Up With the Man in the Moon

WARNING:  This story is meant to explain the loss of a younger parent to a child.  Please read yourself before reading to a small child to see if it is appropriate.

Several years ago a friend of mine died suddenly from a brain annuerysm.  He was only 29 years-old and he had a young child under four.

His wife couldn't find anything to explain the death of a parent or a younger person. Most stories for kids on the subject of death explained the loss of a grandparent or older relative.  Really there was nothing for this situation that she could find.

With her permission I have written this story based on the events of that day and the aftermath.

The main intent is to initiate a discussion between yourself and a young child and help them to understand on their level, what death is.


Thanks to Jenna and Emily for contributing to this story.

UP WITH THE MAN IN THE MOON

Emily was happily playing at daycare with her Fairytopia Barbie.  It was after lunch and she knew that soon Daddy would come to pick her up.

Her friend Dakota left before her that day, and that was strange.

Soon after that Grandma Janice came to pick her up instead, but she had a sad look on her face.

When Emily got home, she burst in the house and yelled, “Daddy, Daddy…. come out and play with me now!”

Daddy wasn’t home so she played with Grandma a bit.  Grandma kept getting up to talk on the phone and this made Emily mad.  Then she went to bed without her usual story and bath from Mommy and Daddy.

The next day she awoke and went to her parent’s room.  Only Mommy was there and her eyes were all red.  Emily knew something was not right but she thought ‘Where is my Daddy?’

Mommy took her to breakfast and her other grandparents were there too.  They all looked very sad and Grandma Annie was crying, but still no Daddy.  This was all very strange.

Finally Emily got angry as no one was paying attention to her.  She said to Mommy, “I want my Daddy now!  Where is my Daddy?”

Everyone went very quiet and just looked away.

Emily’s mom took her by the hand and into the front room and sat her down on the floor near the couch with her favourite stuffed bunny.

“Emily, your Daddy has gone away.”

“Where did he go?” she said. “When will he be back?”

“He can’t come back,” replied Mommy. “Do you remember Great Grandpa Frank and how he died last year and we don’t see him when we go up to the cottage anymore?”

“Yes kind of.”

“Well something in Daddy’s head didn’t work anymore..... and Daddy died yesterday.”

“But mommy, I thought only old sick people with lots of wrinkles got dead?”

“Sometimes even young people like Daddy die too.  They get into accidents or something in their body doesn’t work right.”

“Well why can’t the doctor just fix it so he can come home?” asked Emily.

“Doctors can’t fix everything even though they try their best.”

“So, after Daddy finishes dying, will he come back?”

“No Emily, when you die your body no longer works.  Daddy can’t use his body anymore,” said mommy.

“Where did he go then?”

“Well lots of different people have ideas of where we go when we die.  Some people think we just kinda go to sleep.  Some people like me think you go to a beautiful place called heaven.”

“Oh I’ve heard of heaven,” said Emily.  “People in heaven just get to play all day and never go to Hydro to work, that’s what Daddy said once.”

“Yes, I bet Daddy is up in heaven right now canoeing on a beautiful lake.”

The next few days were very busy at Emily’s house.  Lots of people were there each day and there were lots of pretty flowers in the house.  Even her friends Griffin and Ariana came to play with her a lot.

Then one day everybody got dressed in very nice clothes and left the house for a while to go to something called a funeral.  Emily got to stay and play with her cousin Erin who was 12.

For the next few days Mommy was home every day and Grandma and Grandpa were there too.  Soon it was just her and Mommy.

One day out of the blue Emily said, “Mommy I want Daddy to come back from heaven now and play with me.  He’s been there too long.”

“Emily, Daddy can’t come back from heaven.”

“Well, I want him to come and play with me right now!” screeched Emily as she began to cry loudly.

Mommy took Emily up to her room and sat here down in the big green chair with her bunny.

 “Look out your window Emily.  What do you see?”

“I see the moon and I see the man in the moon’s face, just like Daddy told me.”

“Yes, that’s the Man in the Moon.  Your daddy is way up there with the Man in the Moon and Great Grandpa Frank”.  Mommy continued, “Daddy can see you from up there and will always look out for you, but it’s too far away for him to come back.”

“Okay, Mommy,” said Emily sadly.

A few weeks went by and Emily was starting to miss her Daddy again.  She missed playing dolls with him and colouring at the kitchen table.  Just before she went to bed that night she looked out her bedroom window and saw a very bright crescent moon.  She could clearly see a big smile on the side of this face.

“Mommy look it, look it, Daddy’s back with the Man in the Moon,” yelled Emily.

Emily took her bunny to the window and held it up.

“Please Daddy can you kiss my bunny good night, just like you always used to do?”

Emily held the bunny up to the window and squealed with delight, “He did it mommy, he did it!”

Emily hugged her bunny tight and went to bed with a smile on her face.

THE END