Truly Amazing

Last night at around 7:00 p.m., President Gordon Bitner Hinckley died. He was 97 years old. Sam was out home teaching, with Seth as his companion, when we heard the news.

I told Abram what had happened, and he got real quite and wasn't sure if he was going to cry or not. Abram is my little internalizer. When something upsetting or even different or new happens, we have to talk about it..... A LOT. He really has to work things out in his head and try to make sense of it, which can't always be done. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. We talked about him last week, and Abram was so confused why someone would kill him. "I don't get it, mom. Didn't they want the same dream? Who wouldn't want peace?"

So last night we talked about President Hinckley. We talked about what an amazing life he had and the great work he did. We talked about all the temples he built, about how he traveled the world, how he did television interviews, and about his teachings. Of course we talked about the spirit world and how happy he must be to be reunited with his beloved wife. Abram felt sad to "know" someone who had died, and death became more of a reality for him.

In the end Abram said to me, "This is the most amazing thing that has happened in my life." He looked up at me and said, "Really." I think he was feeling the enormity of it all. And it is an amazing thing. To think of all he did, of the things he taught us, of the example he was, and to know how happy and rested he must feel right now truly is amazing. Out of the mouth of babes......