Jerry & Heaven

Today, Jerry surprised me with some questions which were quite amazing, amusing and touching at the same time. The incident has affected me so much that it has inspired me to start this blog.

It was late in the afternoon and Jerry was taking a break from watching T.V. (which has become a daily ritual now that he's on summer vacation). Suddenly, he asked, "When the Heavenly Father takes you (directing at me) to heaven, does He let you come back after a time?" I told him, matter-of-factly, "No, if I went to heaven, I would stay there." Upon hearing this, he started crying (with his head on the ground, like someone suffering a great loss) and mumbling, "I don't want to grow up, I want to be a little boy forever". I asked him why and in reply, he just cried harder.

I guess that he meant that if he stayed young forever, then he and the people around him would not have to "go to heaven". He then went on to say that he would miss me a lot, if I went to heaven. I told him that I wasn't going to heaven so soon, and besides, he wouldn't stay with us forever. When he grew up, he would move away, perhaps with his own family. At this, he protested that he never wants to move away because he was afraid he would never see us again if he did (oh, right :p, I wonder if he would feel the same way when he's a teenager). I explained that his father and I also did not live with our parents, but we still see each other occasionally.

He continued crying and said that he was afraid that he would forget what we look like (if he moved away from home). I assured him that it was unlikely. He protested some more that he didn't want to move away or live away from home but changed the subject abruptly by asking whether I would eventually die and go to heaven but then return (like, for a visit). I told him that I would perhaps go to heaven, and when I am there, I would be waiting for him and we could meet again in heaven. He found that answer distressing too and wished that I wouldn't die (obviously, I told him that I wasn't about to die, just yet, anyhow).

His next concern was in the event that I died and his Dad died, and Marites also died, then who would take care of him and his brother. At that, I began tearing up and thought hard for a believable answer. I suggested to him Tickle YeeYee and Andrew KauFu (being younger than the three who would die) and he readily agreed. He eventually stopped the sobbing and then asked whether it was time to watch the Doraemon movie which he rented yesterday! LOL! So much for the beautifully sad scene that he created and demolished in a matter of 2 minutes.

What amazes me is the profundity of his questioning and the underlying logic that he has applied. All the above coming from a four year-old is foreshadowing of what is to come in the next, say, 10 to 15 years...

>_< but ^o^ at the same time...