Dead.com and the Dying Ride

The library flag was flying half-mast today. I explained that flags are flown halfway down the pole to honor someone who has recently passed away. "I wonder who died?" I said. "Maybe someone in the community."

"Maybe you missed something big in the news today," one of my daughters suggested.

"That may be," I said. "I'd better go online and see if I can figure it out."

My preschool son spoke up. "You should go to 'dead.com' and see who died. You just type it in, 'dead.com,' and then up comes the name of whoever just died!"

As we headed home, we passed a cemetery. To my son, who didn't know what it was, I described its purpose briefly and simply. A minute or so later, he said, "I wonder if an angel comes down. Or maybe there's a dying ride, and Jesus slides down it, and then He takes you on it and you ride up, up, up into heaven that way. That would be fun. So maybe it's an angel, or maybe it's a dying ride. I don't know. Just maybe. Because I don't really know how we get to heaven. I was just thinking it might be an angel or a ride, but I don't really know. How do we get to heaven?"

"I don't know," I answered. "No one knows until they're on their way."

"Well, it might be an angel," he said, "or a ride."

"I hope it's a ride," I said.

"Me, too," he replied.