Originally published 8/16/18
Let me just preface this by saying kids can say some creepy stuff - like, "Holy crap, let me look over my shoulder to make sure no one is behind me waiting with an axe" stuff. There's a reason that children are used in horror movies! Some people are quick to dismiss things as "kids just being kids," but I can't do that with my children. Half the time, I know what they say is true and what they are looking at is really there. Just ask Tiyata (Doesn't make sense? It will in a future blog post! :) )
My oldest daughter is almost three and a half now, but she was barely two years old when I had the creepiest conversation I've ever had with her (and she's a real talker, so that's saying something). Of course, now there's two of them and who knows what they'll tell me!
My daughter is just as in tune, maybe more so, with the spiritual world as I am. Ever since she was a few months old, she would look and smile at random spots on the walls and ceiling, have babbling conversations with "herself," and reach up to be held by someone that my husband and I could not see.
Of course, none of this was a surprise to me. She's been coming to visit me in dreams years before she was even born...years before I'd even met her father. My husband is one of the most rationale men on the planet (and often rolls his eyes at me), but even he couldn't rationalize what she told us just a few months ago.
One Saturday morning, I was changing my daughter's nighttime diaper in preparation for the new day. She was laying on the changing table, playing with the light blue curtains and giggling when a full beam of sunshine hit her full in the face.
Without looking up at me, she said, "The kitten is dead, Mommy."
I froze. She had no idea what "dead" was...she was barely two and a half! But I certainly wasn't going to discount what she said. I needed more clarification...and I assumed she was either reliving a past life memory or had been visited by something.
So I asked her to repeat herself. Before she did, she dropped the curtain and turned her face to mine. Her expression was so solemn, an expression I'd never seen on her face before, that tears came to my eyes. She stared at me with such intensity...almost as if I should know exactly what she was talking about.
"The kitten is dead. He's dead in the ground. He cried when he died."
At this point, tears are flowing down my face and she's still staring at me intently...waiting for me to say something. I manage to croak out, "Is he still sad?"
"Yeah."
"Where is he now?"
Her eyes shifted over my left shoulder. "He's behind you."
After a little shiver shot down my spine, I told her that we were going to say a prayer for the kitten. We would ask that angels come to take him home into the light. Once we finished, I asked her if the kitten was still sad.
"No, he's happy."
And that was that...until I shared this conversation with my husband, who was very rattled for the rest of the day!