The sixth graders are doing okay. They’ve written letters and poems to J’s parents. They’ve decided they want to do some memorial for her at the school. They talked about what they liked about her and how they were feeling. They mostly state that they are feeling something and they don’t know what it is. A different feeling and as the prince says “I’ve never felt like this before and I’m not sure what to do.”When I picked the prince up from school yesterday he mentioned that they all seemed to gravitate to her time-line. All of the kids did time-lines showing where they’ve been and where they wanted to go. They all got a fairly brutal reminder of the fragility of life. Said through tears, “she wanted to get her drivers license mom, and she didn’t get to. She wanted to go on a road trip around the country and she didn’t get to.”
They decided as a group (there are only 39 of them) to attend the funeral. I’ve got to hand it to them…they are collectively being quite mature and compassionate. And I’m sure there is a measure of curiosity, too. I know the prince has never been to a funeral.
I didn’t know J or her parents. But on Friday, I will take the prince to pay his respects. I’ve never been to the funeral of a child before. The last funeral I attended was for my grandfather who died a little over a year ago. His funeral, while sad, was a celebration of his life. A life well lived (he was 90). How do you celebrate a life that barely got started?
