Samhain Night

The children sleep, exhausted from another marathon Trick or Treat run. A one-eyed Jack o' Lantern flickers at me from the table and I find my thoughts everywhere. The children sang their song for tonight, not together, though. Atticus was shy and would only sing if I held his hand, by that time Titus had been long distracted by rolling around on the floor. So, I stood next to him, and he sang the first verse of the song we came up with for Samhain.

We put out an extra bowl at dinner for those who might visit. We've lost many these last couple of years. The boys each have a rudimentary understanding of death at this point, Atticus even of reincarnation. Part of me wonders if they should, but having grown up on a farm, I was well acquainted with death by their age and so part of me is glad that they have this base knowledge now so that in the coming years, as our families' continue to age and leave us, one by one, they will not be so shocked. Rather, they will understand, at least some what.