Day of the Dead

Last week, Alice's teacher included a note about a Day of the Dead celebration at her school. A parent was creating an altar and families were invited to adorn it with photographs of deceased relatives. So one evening, I pulled out Alice's baby book and we found a picture of her sitting on her great-grandpa Russ's lap. Alice had the opportunity to meet her great-grandfather when she was only three weeks old but unfortunately he passed away a few months later.

I had never even show Alice the photograph and she was completely interested in and taken by this picture of her deceased relative. We ended up talking a lot about grandpa Russ and how he loved to hike and fish. I told her that he was a great artist and that he could play music by ear. I told her that I hiked to the top of Half Dome with him. I realized that I had pushed my own grandfather out of my mind and avoided talking to my daughter about him because I was uncomfortable talking about death. Alice asked a lot about death and she wanted to know what happens when you die. She was completely at east with the topic and spoke freely. And she made one point that has stuck in my head: "Mommy, it's OK if you die because we'll always remember you."

This morning the altar was up in the library and pictures were starting to appear. Alice said, "That's where all the dead people are going so we can remember them." I always knew that my daughter would learn a lot in school but I never even imagined that she'd learn how to have a healthy attitude toward death in kindergarten.