Hi Everyone, Shari here. I know Andrea is usually the talent behind our “Something Special Saturday” but the lucky girl is on a whirlwind trip to Europe so you are stuck with me today.  If you have been following the ScrapMatters forums  (and I certainly hope you have) you know that in the Everyday Chatter forum some of us have been chatting about the wonderfully funny things we sometimes catch our children saying. Today I want to share with you a conversation I had with my four year old last week. It’s not at all funny but is so touching that I just want to take this opportunity to share it with you. 

Let me set the stage…On Tuesday, March 17th a very dear friend of ours passed away. He was one of those guys you just can’t help but love. You know the type, always smiling, always looking for ways to help other people. Just a really great guy. He was only 45 years old and left behind a wonderful wife and four great kids. His youngest child, Cassidy, is the same age as my youngest, Grant. I tried to explain to Grant, who is four, how Cassidy’s daddy had stopped breathing and died and went to heaven so he wouldn’t be here with us or his family any more.  I told him what I believe to be true and that is that we will see our friend again some day and he will be with his family again but it won’t be for a very long time. I could tell he was upset by the news of his friend losing her daddy but I also knew he didn’t really understand the impact of what I was sharing with him.  It was two days later that I learned just how much a four year old really does understand. 

We were driving along the freeway and I could see Grant stretching, in his carseat, to try to see out the window. He was looking for the Target store and wasn’t able to see it. The trees were blocking his view. So our conversation went like this…

Grant:  They shouldn’t have put those trees there.

Me: Nobody put the trees there, they just grew there.

Grant: Well then they should cut them down, they are in my way.

Me: We don’t want them to cut them down. They already cut a whole bunch of trees down to make room for all those buildings and houses. We need to keep the trees because the trees put oxygen in the air and we need the oxygen in the air so we can breath.

Grant: Cassidy has trees. (at this point I am clueless as to where he is going with this conversation. In my mind I am simply envisioning the pretty flowering trees that grow in my friend’s front yard.)

Me:  Yes, Cassidy has beautiful trees in her yard.

Grant:  Well, Cassidy’s daddy needs to come back down and be by the trees.

Finally I understood what my dear four year old was thinking. How he put it all together that if Cassidy’s daddy would just stand by the trees he would have oxygen to breathe and he wouldn’t have to die.  It was one of those moments when you realize just how special the sweet spirits of our children really are. It was all so simple in his mind.

I just needed to share that with you and I appreciate you letting me do so. 

I was trying to come up with some cute freebie that had to do with trees but I’m really not very creative so I looked through my photos and found the following three that I turned into papers. I also posted a LO using one of the papers. The word art I used is also in the freebie.

I have a whole new outlook on trees, thanks to a smart four year old boy who taught me a little about life… and death. Now go hug your kids, your spouse, your mom, your best friend, heck go hug your dog. Just grab someone special and hold on tight because we just never know how long we will have the priviledge of living on this beautiful earth.

This first shot is a picture taken last summer when we visited Mt. Rainier.

This is a shot looking up through the snow capped trees in our backyard.

This is another shot from Mt. Rainier. Wish I could tell you what lake that is but I can’t remember the name. We hiked around it and had a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful way for us to enjoy nature.

This is the LO I made using one of the papers and other pictures that were taken during our time spent at Mt. Rainier.

You can pick up your freebies here.

Thanks for reading. Now go hug somebody!!!