Up to heaven and back

It must have been right after Toby, our dog, passed away a few months ago that Tyler became very interested in heaven.  He knew what it was before, but he never had a true reason to discuss it in detail.  When Toby died, we talked quite a bit about what heaven meant, looked like, and how you get there.  Over the past months, we rarely go a week without Tyler bringing up heaven.  It’s either in a reference like “I love you to heaven and back” or it’s a direct conversation about it.  Often, we will be in the car and he will tell me he misses Toby.  I will agree with him.  We talk, and he tells me that he thinks Toby is up in heaven smiling at us, playing with his friends, and eating a lot of food.  Other times, he will randomly blurt out “I think it’s nice up there,” and I know exactly what he is referring to.  Some of our conversations are uncomfortable involving him saying he wants to go visit heaven.  I explain that we would miss him if he left us and what would have to happen for him to get up there.  But his excitement about it often throws us all off guard.  I enjoy our conversations as uncomfortable as they sometimes are.  I know that Toby’s passing is only the first of a few that will happen in his lifetime.  As much grief as that gives us as adults, it’s truly amazing to see the insight of a child—always focusing on the brighter side.