Heaven...or just some clouds

We aren't religious people. Kevin was raised without any religious upbringing (which I still find strange), but I was raised as Catholic until I was in my teenage years. My family never went to church or really participated or even talked about God, but my dad thought it was his responsibility to make sure both of his kids went to Catechism and went all the way through Confirmation in the church. After that, his duty was done.

Now, as adults neither Kevin nor I are religious. We don't attend a church, don't ascribe to a particular religion, or even recognize a god. However, we do openly talk about religion and beliefs people have - we are very open to allowing our kids to believe what they want, but we do think it is a personal decision they should make as adults.

Ethan has been to a couple of different churches with family members and various friends, but he doesn't seem very interested.

Emmett, on the other hand, profoundly believes in God. We have no problem with this - and usually send him to grandma to discuss and or explain the questions he has since we don't feel capable answering him.

Sometimes these things backfire. Death. Handling the death of a loved one is difficult even as an adult. As a child, it is a scary unknown that can cause an obsession with who is going to die and when. Ethan was almost three when my mom died of cancer - he knew she was very sick and that her body was going to die. We talked about how people die and how they live on in your heart and memories. That was a perfectly acceptable explanation to Ethan.

But, two years ago, my grandfather died. Emmett was four and was devastated. We tried the same explanation we gave Ethan at that age, but he just kept asking, but where did he go? When we buried grandpa, Emmett couldn't handle the idea he was in the ground.

So, naturally my grandma told him grandpa was in heaven and one day he would see him again. The curious four year old quizzed my grandma about all things heaven, but especially where it was. Grandma explained heaven was in the sky above the clouds. Problem solved.

Fast-forward six months. We are taking our family trip to Florida. We board the plane and get high up in the sky, and when Emmett sees we are above the clouds, he wants to know where grandpa is. I looked at him in a puzzled way, and he tells me, "We are in heaven above the clouds, so where is grandpa?"

I was speechless. I had no idea what to say, so I told him the only thing I could think of: I don't know; you better ask grandma when we get home.