Can't get much bigger than this one.

Oh dear. I thought it was a bit awkward and difficult to field Riley's questions about meat packing. Ha! He has since moved directly onto mortality.

We were in the car the other day and listening to a tune by Leadbelly when Riley asked me if we could see Leadbelly play. I told him no, and having no forethought of the land mine I was laying, said that Leadbelly had lived many, many years ago and was probably dead by now. A long silence from the backseat ensued and when it broke there came forth a long succession of questions about death. Will we die? When will we die? Will ____ die? (And there he went on to name everyone we know or have ever seen...) Why will we die? Will we bring our pajamas? (our pajamas?!) What makes us die? Sigh. It's a hard question for an adult but nearly impossible to broach with a little person without risking his sense of well being.

Robbie's out of town till tomorrow, but when he and I spoke today I gave him a heads up about Riley's questions and that we need to quickly talk about mortality and spirituality and how we wish to represent these things to our very small boy. It's weird how fast these things come up. One minute he's playing and the next you're faced with trying to explain the great imponderable.

What's he thinking?