Safe travels, Ouma Violet!

Violet Virginia Theunissen 

Our Ouma finally took her leave from this earth. She was 96 years!

Finally, because it could not have been that comfortable to still be here. The eyes and the hearing were not good anymore, and she was confined to her bed and a chair. Her children and grandchildren are scattered, and could not visit her often. Luckily she had her daughter nearby!

She also had the angels looking after her at the old age home in eMalahleni. We saw Cecilia again at the gratitude service on Friday, one of the many angels looking after the frail. Ouma Violet used to call her her mother. Even till the end, says Cecilia!

Burial of Squishy, the silkworm moth

Little Miss was highly upset when we got back from our Bushveld break and the silkworm moth (that she had named Squishy when it was still a silkworm) was dead. It unfortunately had no fellow moths, and there are no eggs.
(Shew! Wiping tears of relief because we do not have another batch of silkworms in our future! And we don't have to raid other people's trees in the future! )

Little Miss cried, and we had to tell her that the moth had only a very short lifespan, and that it has ended.
We promised that we would bury it in the garden.

She made a tombstone for Squishy!

Rest in peace, Squishy!

This small ritual reminded me of how important it is to not hide death and dying from children, but to confront it in a respectful manner! We could have hid the shoe box with the dead moth, but it does helps her to learn to deal with loss! She made up her own ritual and decided on her own "tombstone"!

Rituals are very important!

How do you help your children understand death and dying?


Related post

- One more mouth to feed: a silk worm