01082012.2221
"Auntie was broken..." In a four year old's mind, the world is simple and uncomplicated. Broken means ill, and my second cousin was referring to my mum when she went to see my mum at the hospital around a month and a half ago. "Auntie was broken, auntie was broken. And she's dead." It was a surprise to hear that word, first of all because she, a four year old, seems to understand already what dead means.
And it was a surprise also because for a long time seemed to be a taboo word. But that's what mum is. In the mind of a four year old, there are no niceties and pleasantries of euphemisms and trying to find words to make things sound less serious or severe than things really are.
Dead is dead. "Auntie is dead. Like grandpa!" My second cousin lost her grandpa, my aunt's husband, back in March.
"Auntie was broken..." In a four year old's mind, the world is simple and uncomplicated. Broken means ill, and my second cousin was referring to my mum when she went to see my mum at the hospital around a month and a half ago. "Auntie was broken, auntie was broken. And she's dead." It was a surprise to hear that word, first of all because she, a four year old, seems to understand already what dead means.
And it was a surprise also because for a long time seemed to be a taboo word. But that's what mum is. In the mind of a four year old, there are no niceties and pleasantries of euphemisms and trying to find words to make things sound less serious or severe than things really are.
Dead is dead. "Auntie is dead. Like grandpa!" My second cousin lost her grandpa, my aunt's husband, back in March.
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