Flying Cats and Heavenly Visitations

The setting is inevitably the same..church, Publix or our morning commute.
I am continually both moved and entertained by Isabel's view of life.
During this morning's drive to school she started listing things that fly.
I was half-tuning her out (such a bad mother!) as I heard the following...

Isabel: Blue jays fly. Ducks fly. Cardinals fly. Airplanes fly. "Gooses" fly.
(She just can't get that irregular plural form down yet.)

And then I hear, "Angels fly", followed by, "Cats fly."
At this point I decide to give her my 100% focus...
(well, as close to 100% as is possible during a rush-hour morning commute)
and tell her cats don't fly; they don't have wings.

There is about a three-second pause and then I hear
"Well, Bart Bart has wings. He's in heaven."

It took me a few seconds to process what she said... and then tears came to my eyes, not only because of the childlike simplicity of her theology, but because it has been over a year and a half since my little Bart Bart died. Isabel was only 20 months old and had been home only 6 months. Since Lulu arrived 4 months later and has been a part of her life for a much longer period, I was pretty surprised that she even remembered Bart. For Isabel, it was just natural to include her little kitty in a list of things that fly.

For me, it was a gift.. of memory, of love and of grace.

Isabel and Bart Bart at 18 months






Isabel and Bart Bart at 20 months










Isabel and Lulu (her Happy Second Birthday present)