Can Nana walk in Heaven? I sure hope so, Sophia

This past Friday night, my sister Shawn & her husband Jim took my 7 year old niece to a Christmas “Open House” in Waynesburg, where Sophia witnessed a caricature artist & asked (more like pleaded) to have her likeness done too. 

My sister sent it on to me that night with a note of dismay (which made me laugh) & I promptly posted it on Facebook & wrote:

“My 7 year old niece got her caricature done at Waynesburg’s Christmas Open House—she loves it, thinks it makes her look like a teenager.  My sister doesn’t like it, thinks it makes her look like a teenager.”

It got some nice feedback.  Personally, I think it does look like that little glamour-gal, right down to her strong jawbone and pronounced chin.

So last night around midnight, I had just finished e-mailing with my sister & shut things down and crawled into bed when my phone rang—who’s calling me at this hour?  It was my sister Shawn of course, her husband at her side, and they were trying to determine if one of those “Amazon sellers” were legit.  (They were looking at karaoke machines for Sophie for Christmas but not liking what they saw.)   And the next thing I know, Jim is asleep and Shawn and I have been on the phone for 3 hours.  

We spent the time talking about gift ideas and Sophie’s love of technology, among other things.  Gadgets like ipads and Wii’s and smartphones don’t faze this kid in the slightest, she’s seen it all and wants to know when she’s getting her share.  I remarked how Sophie seems ‘wiser beyond her years’, especially in comparison to us at her age.  (But then again we grew up with younger parents and a house filled with brothers and sisters, where a ‘color tv’ was about as newfangled as things got.)  And privately I worried a little that Sophie was growing up too soon, too fast.

Then my sister told me something which broke my heart, but set things right.  Shawn said  “Doug the other night, Sophie came to me and said ‘Mom I need to ask you something important.’  She asked ‘Can Nana walk in Heaven?’  It was really important to her to know if Mom was able to walk about in Heaven on her own two feet.  All I could tell her was that I didn’t know, but that Nana was there for sure.”   

Sophie never got to know her Nana; Mom left us when Sophie was barely 2 months old, so Sophie only knows her thru pictures and memories we’ve shared with her. 

But the thing is, her heartfelt question was a sweet reminder that this may be the 21st century, and she may be more comfortable with technology than her fifty year old uncle, but the innocence isn’t lost.  I hope she continues to believe in Santa Claus & the Tooth Fairy and that her Nana is with Jesus for as long as she’s able.

One last thing--Sophie is getting an operation in a few days, for an ‘inguinal hernia’ which doesn’t really bother her now, but if left untreated, will get worse down the road.  She’s scared of course (who wouldn’t be?) but last week, Shawn was telling someone about it with my niece in tow, and afterward Sophie said “Mom just tell them it’s a hernia, ok?”  (She didn’t think anyone needed to know about her lady parts, and I couldn’t agree more.) 

I may not be a praying man, but for this little soul I will gladly make an exception.

Merry Christmas Sophia