Ellie, now 3 years old, was with us for a couple of hours today. We love having her about; she makes us laugh! However today brought a slightly different experience.
She bounced into the kitchen (flinging her coat to the floor), sat down on the chair opposite me at the kitchen table and says (in a voice somewhat in the manner of her psychologist mum) "We need to talk about Big Ish. She's died. [pause] "She fell and hurt her leg and had to go to hospital. We're not going to see her any more. She's gone into ashes." "Yes" I said. and pointed to the photo of her on the Rogue's Gallery picture board on the kitchen wall. "But we can think of her and we can keep her in our mind." She looked at me thoughtfully for a brief moment, nodded without saying anything, and then proceeded to jump down from the table to turn her attention to more pressing matters like apple juice and chocolate biscuits.
Iain and I were impressed. Three years old! Iain has a very strong memory of one of his birthdays (I think it was his 4th). He grandfather died on the exact day and nobody told him. He remembers being very distressed that his grandfather was missing. Yes, people thought they were doing the best thing, i.e. didn't want to upset the child, but he feels strongly that not telling him was a mistake.
Meanwhile here is photo of Iain at about the same age as Ellie is now. He has an expression on his face which I often see in Ellie, i.e. cheeky mischief.
I haven't been able to capture it yet in Ellie, and have only the following photo of John's which, at least, shows the similarity across the eys.
And finally ....
Ellie at the window of Iseabail's flat in Edinburgh.
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