Some tough questions

"Mommy, am I going to die?"
Ummm....long pause.
Well, yes, after a long, long, long time, everyone dies. Elephants, birds, bugs, people...
"I don't want to die. Why do I have to die?"
You don't have to worry about it for a long time. After many birthdays, probably not until you're 99 yrs old and a grandpa.
"I'm scared to die."
It's okay to be scared. I don't like to think about it either.
"How do I die?"
After many years and many birthdays, our bodies slowly stop working and sort of like closing our eyes, we die.
He hunches his body over. "Like this?"
I guess so. I don't really know what it's like to die.
"Then do we come back new? As a new person?"
Some people do believe you come back new as a person. Some people believe you can come back new as an animal. There are lots of ideas of what happens after we die.
"I want to come back new."
Okay, me too.

So unprepared for these conversations with my always processing 3 year old.