So, every day before nap, I read books to my boys (the boys get read to at bedtime and other times, too). The usual routine is for the boys to both get ready for nap and then we all pile into my bed (where we all nap together), and we read one to two picture books per boy and then, as the youngest nurses, I read one or two chapters of a chapter book to my son. Our latest book is one of the first ones I've read to him that I have not read beforehand. I know from the synopsis on the back that it is the story of a grumpy porcupine who while wondering out alone on his birthday, comes upon a mother fox who is dying, and promises to take care of her three kits. As my eldest son is always claiming that he intends to adopt 3-12 babies (depending on the day), I thought he might like this story when I found it at a library sale for $.50. Naturally, I was a little nervous about the mom dying part, but figured that just made it more "Disney" like.
Fast forward to today. . . we are six chapters in and running late for nap. Due to me being on crutches for over a week and having a sprained ankle, I had not had the chance to do "big" grocery shopping in some time so the shopping this morning took longer than usual, which meant lunch was late, which meant our routine was off, which meant less reading time before nap, etc. Before going up for nap, I told my eldest that under no circumstances could I read more than one chapter today. We just didn't have the time . . .and wouldn't you know that it was the chapter where the mom died? And she didn't just die, mind you, she died slowly. . . dramatically. . . speaking lovingly of her babies and how much they needed someone now that she was dying. The book described the bloody snow from her fighting to get out of the trap for goodness sake. And I was reading it. . . to my five year old . . .right before he was going to sleep!!!!!!!
Needless to say. . . nap did not go well for him (or for his brother who might be smarter than the average 18 month old and knew something less than savory was afoot). After nap, he was still so traumatized that he turned his lego playing while I put away the groceries I did not have time for before nap (the cereals and non-refrigerator stuff) into hunters and traps and then kept letting the lego guys go, saying "No one has to die! Go take care of your babies!" To help remedy his sadness, we used our afternoon learning time to practice writing character names and to "re-enact" the story using puppets only how we wished it would go, where the porcupine manages to get the hunter, who is sorry for setting the trap, and the hunter takes the fox to the vet and she is saved. (A little play therapy goes a long way to heal a broken kid's heart.)
What struck me was how lucky we are that God did not leave us in the same lurch that I left my son in. When he told us his story of his son's death, he didn't just say "that's the end. Isn't it sad? Now don't do that to people!" Instead, he gave us the full story with his son's resurrection and the hope it gives us all for the heaven that will await us. He, like the fox in the story, also gave us a helpers to take care of his children (the Holy Spirit and each other) after his son died, but he also gave us the hope and joy of his son's return. What a blessing and beautiful story our God has given us so that we can all sleep well every night.
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