He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Brother

After lunch, Cash and West were playing and West started crying. I went into the playroom and asked Cash what happened. He said he hit West and asked me if that would make West die. I told Cash probably not but that it still wasn't very nice. Then Cash looked up to our second story railing and asked me jokingly if West fell over the railing if that would make him die. I said that yes, falling two stories would probably kill West. The smile left Cash's face and his eyes welled up with tears. His voice broke as he asked me what we would do if that happened. I told him that we would all be very sad and miss West very much. "Will we get a new West?" Cash asked, a tear rolling down his cheek. "No," I said. "There's only one West and if he dies, he'll be gone forever." At this point Cash was really starting to get upset so I reassured him that the chances that West would fall over our second story railing are very, very slim. I was amazed both with Cash's understanding of death and how much he really does love his brother.