Big Thoughts From A Little Man

My oldest son thinks a lot about things. He's 5 years old and everything around him presents endless fodder for his active little mind. Lately he has been thinking a lot about what it means to be 5 years old in the bigger scheme of things and we've been having many interesting conversations where he tries to work it all into a perspective that he can understand. Today, while we were waiting to pick up his little brother from preschool, he asked me this:

"Mom? Do you miss Grammie and Grampie D?"

Grammie and Grampie D are my folks--they live in Nova Scotia. We visit them at least once a year. He thinks of them as the grandparents who live on a farm, even though they don't--they live in farming country, but it's all the same to my 5 year old if he can see cows and fields and tractors when he's visiting.

I told him that I do miss them, and waited to see what he'd say next.

"I'll miss you, too, Mom, when I grow into a big man and move away." He paused, and then asked, "why do people move away?"

I explained that it's often to look for work--as it was for us--but that sometimes people just want to live somewhere different than where they grew up. He thought about this for a little bit.

"When I grow up and move away and have a wife and babies, you can come and visit me, Mom. I'd like that a lot."

So would I.