Since Uncle Peter passed away, death has become a regular theme in our abode. Gideon is trying to wrap his mind around the concept and is asking a lot of questions. I'm told it was all he wanted to talk about in speech therapy. For the last two nights in a row he's asked us to read him the book about ancient Egyptians and their embalming practices. This morning on the way to school he asked a question about a pedestrian light. I explained what it was for and reminded him that we use them often when we go into cities and cross busy streets. I said that they put them in places where there's a lot of people walking. Gideon said there was no need for pedestrian lights anymore because so many people are dying, there's just not enough people left. This all goes back to his shock over the number of graves at the cemetery.

I pointed out that while people do die, there's a lot of new people coming along. I mentioned 4 new babies he knows of and reminded him of his cousin on-the-way. I tried not to be crass by saying something like "Out with the old, in with the new" but I wanted to convey the idea of cycles. Probably way too much for a 4 year old. He's convinced we have a population shortage. It probably doesn't help that every other day I'm running into the room announcing the latest celebrity death.

Death has been on my mind as well apparently. A few days before Peter passed I started regularly dreaming of memorial services, corpses and other death-related themes. In one dream my friend died and I cried "But he's the third one this week!" And he was, according to my dreams. I think yesterday I might have dreamed that I died and was on the way to my memorial service. I had a hard time holding on to the details of that one. So I was relieved this morning when I woke with the dream of planning Gideon's birthday party, frantically running around a mall trying to find helium for balloons.

Bring on the birthday parties I say!