{"id":4201,"date":"2015-01-22T09:30:08","date_gmt":"2015-01-22T17:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/?p=4201"},"modified":"2015-01-22T08:19:52","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T16:19:52","slug":"three-years-gone-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/three-years-gone-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Years Gone By"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brothers_Logan-GG-Caden_11-14-10\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I spent this morning\u2019s commute trying to explain to my sons the concept of death.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> Mommy, why did Cooper have to die<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> He was very old and sick, sweetie. He didn\u2019t want to be in pain anymore.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> I miss him.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> Me too, buddy. Me too.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> I want him to come back. When can he come back? He was my friend.<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> Oh sweetie, I know you loved him. But he\u2019s not coming back.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> He went to the doctor. Wasn\u2019t the doctor supposed to make him better?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> Sometimes the doctor\u2019s can\u2019t help. And Cooper had to go to heaven. I\u2019m sure he\u2019s very happy there with lots of doggie friends. Because all dogs go to heaven.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> Did Daddy take him?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> No, unfortunately no one can go with you there.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> He had to go by himself?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> Just his spirit went. And all other loved ones already there were waiting to welcome him with a tennis ball.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> Mommy, I love Cooper. I really need to hug him again.<\/p>\n

Me: <\/strong>Oh honey, I know. Even though we can\u2019t hug him, we can remember him.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> How do we do that?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> We can tell happy stories about the times we did get to hug him.<\/p>\n

Search:<\/strong> Can we do that after school? And can you show me pictures of him?<\/p>\n

Me:<\/strong> Of course. As soon as we get home.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been three years today since Grandma Winnie left us.<\/a> And as I held the above conversation with my 4-year-old, Grandma Winnie\u2019s namesake no less, I smiled.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know that I believe in heaven or any kind of conscious afterlife. But I do believe that our spirits live on in the memories we leave behind.<\/p>\n

So while pictures of a yellow puppy await me this evening \u2013 alongside the tales of his hilarious hijinks \u2013 please join me in remembering Great Grandma Winnie.<\/p>\n

I miss you.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"1.12\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"1.17\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2.03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2.12\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2.15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Grandma Winnie was never a huge fan of dogs. She told me on several occasions she just couldn’t let herself get too attached just to lose then so soon. <\/p>\n

If there is a near wild heaven, I hope she’s found an eternal best friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent this morning\u2019s commute trying to explain to my sons the concept of death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4,15],"tags":[691,134,1760],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Sbzi-15L","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3988,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/care-and-consideration-of-loveies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4201,"position":0},"title":"Care and Consideration of Loveies","date":"August 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cElle is my friend,\u201d is a common refrain heard around of my house. Elle is an elephant \u2013 well, a stuffed elephant atop a soft grey baby blanket. She also goes by the name \u201cShaking Elle\u201d due to the embedded rattle in her head. Basically she\u2019s a newborn comfort blanket\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bed-rest"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Elle-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3478,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/out-of-the-mouths-of-babes-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4201,"position":1},"title":"Out of the Mouths of Babes","date":"July 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Friday. It\u2019s time for the latest installment of the honest truth \u2013 toddler style. Search: Mommy doesn't have brown eyes. Mommy has weird eyes. (Green. My eyes are green, kid.) Me: No splashing. Destroy: That was Mater. Me: Haha, I\u2019m pretty sure you just splashed your toy in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Seriously?"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.streamdoubletrouble.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/SuccessKid-297x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3572,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/bathtime-linguistic-lessons\/","url_meta":{"origin":4201,"position":2},"title":"Bathtime Linguistic Lessons","date":"September 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Destroy: Mommy, watch! My Donald Duck dived. Me: Good job, Donald. Good dive. Destroy: He dived, Mommy! Me: He dove. Destroy: He dove? He didn\u2019t dive? Me: He did dive. But we say dove when he already did it. Destroy: Oh. Search: My guys are on boards. Me: What letter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Home"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Bath-Donald.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3096,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/easy-as-abc-12-poop\/","url_meta":{"origin":4201,"position":3},"title":"Easy as A,B,C, 1,2, Poop","date":"February 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"So\u2026this was my night. How was yours? Destroy: Look. There are two lights on. One light is dead. 1\u20262\u20263\u2026 lights! (My son is obviously brilliant.) Destroy: 1\u20262\u20263\u20267\u20269\u2026 (Look at him shunning traditional conventions.) Me: Search, can you count? Search: No. Me: Ok, let\u2019s go take a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Destroy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2210,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/the-great-cooper-caper\/","url_meta":{"origin":4201,"position":4},"title":"The Great Cooper Caper","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We have dogs. Two of them. A yellow one and a black one. Remember the 90s cartoon \u201cPinky and the Brain\u201d? Genetically engineered mice \u2013 one brilliant and sly, scheming for world domination. The other desperate to be loved, but may have missed a few days when intelligence was being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family Stories"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.streamdoubletrouble.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Let-the-Dogs-out-300x246.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1148,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/doggies-say-woof\/","url_meta":{"origin":4201,"position":5},"title":"Doggies Say Woof","date":"February 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a dog person. I have a firm belief that dogs make people happy. In fact, during my hospital confinement I was even prescribed canine therapy. (This may or may not have had anything to do with my emotional meltdown during my first in-patient stint, in which I demanded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family Stories"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/streamdoubletrouble.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/02\/cooper_05-16-08.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}