God's House

"...and when we get old we can go to God's House." We were standing in front of the open refrigerator. Will looked up at me with his big, dark brown eyes, fully involved in his story, chubby hands waving in the air to make his point. I don't remember exactly how we got on this topic, but he's very interested in all things having to do with God lately, so I just answer as best I can.

"Yeah baby. When we die we go to Heaven." I ushered him out of the way of the fridge and shut the door, setting his juice on the table.

He skipped right past this. "God's House is very very far away."

Thinking he was still meaning Heaven, I said, "Yes baby. It is."

"God's House is waaaaaay up north. By Little Papa's." I choked back a laugh. Both my dad and the Hubster's dad share the same first name, and both requested the moniker 'Papa'. Somehow they became Little Papa (my dad) and Big Papa (his dad). Whatever, goofy kids. (The grandmothers, on the other hand, each have their own unique name. Big Papa's wife goes by Nana, The Hubster's mom goes by Mamaw, leaving my mom with the term 'Grama', which somehow wasn't enough for my kids...they call her "Grama Grama". Emphasis, of course, on the first "Grama". And often times, they still feel the need to explain, "You know, Mom - YOUR Mom." Oh...HER!)

Sitting down at the table, I somehow muttered a, "Oh really?" without laughing.

"Yep. You have to drive a long time to get there."

It was at this point that I decided not to just play along, but to feed the kid a little. See how far he would go. "What type of house does God live in? Log cabin? Trailer?"

"Nope. He has a castle. A BEEEEG CASTLE." Will's eyes went wide and his arms made giant circles as high as he could reach.

More choked-back laughter. "Oh. I see. He have a big yard around that castle?"

Standing there, not quite at my eye level, he began swinging his arms back and forth so that they almost touched in front of his body when he replied, "No. But he has TEN jumpolines!"

"Wow! Really?"

"Yep! And he lets you jump from one to tha other to tha other!" Clearly, this was a very exciting point. And clearly, something my children have tried to convince me is a good idea.

"Wow. Well, if anyone could save you from falling off and breaking your head open while doing that, it'd be God!"

"Yep. He jumps on them all day long!" Again, something my children have tried to convince me was a good idea. In fact, they've tried to convince me they should sleep out in the yard, on the trampoline.

"Wow. Well God is probably really good at getting other things done while he's jumping."

"Yep." He smiled wide and I patted the chair in front of me, onto which he scrambled.

"How do you know all this, anyway?" I sat back like I was skeptical.

He looked at me like I had two heads, "Cuz I do!"

"Alright, alright! I believe you. Tell me more. Does God have any pets?"

He took a swig of juice before replying, "Yes, but no dogs. Only a cat."

"Really? Why not a dog?"

He began to swing his little legs back and forth beneath him. He shrugged. "He doesn't like 'em. He likes just cats."

"Oh. OK. What's his cat's name?"

"Milkshake."

But of course...