Oldest Son

Oldest Son from a very early age wanted to know things.


I used to work very hard to stay ahead of what it was he might want to know.


After THGGM and I completed our wills, I thought it might be comforting for him to know what would happen to him if we were to both die.


(Normal people probably see a problem with this already, but rarely do I have the 'normal' response to anything.)


I knew that it was comforting to ME as a child to know that my parents intended to leave me with my aunt and uncle (whose lovely home is pictured at www.judyh58a.blogspot.com) if they were to both die. Unless, of course, my sisters were old enough to take me. This put me in a conundrum of wishing that if they were going to die anyway that I would at least get to live with someone who wasn't always complaining that I was breathing on them.


So, I calmly and matter-of-factly explained to Oldest Son that if daddy and I were both to die at the same time, he need not worry, as he would go to live with our dear friends Fred and Betty. They were also the parents of three of his favorite people, so I was sure it would all be good.


And, it was. Being the sort of child who liked to have things settled well in advance, he pondered it for a bit and seemed just fine with the arrangement.


A couple of days later, he asked me for Fred and Betty's phone number. He wanted me to write it down for him. Of course, I thought he wanted to call his friends to arrange to play.


Silly me. I asked "Why?".


In all seriousness, he responded. "I need to know their number in case you and daddy die, I will have to call them to come pick us up."


It put a picture in my mind of THGGM and I laying prone, stricken by who-knows-what, and Oldest Son gathering up his younger siblings, calling Betty to come get them, and calmly waiting while seated on suitcase on the front porch.


Somedays, a parent can disappoint a child just by living.