"Don't wake up Tom"

This is sad. I really shouldn't even begin to tell this story. It makes me morbid or "sick" or downright weird ... but, I have to. I have to share this. I have to put this down in writing so that when the littles are all grown up, they'll have this to talk about all of their lives. .... and I know this will become an "inside" joke and they'll laugh, which makes me even more weird.

My Uncle Tom passed away three days ago and the funeral was today. We took the little's with us for lack of a babysiter and the fact that it was in my home town, and I wanted to stay and visit with all my out of town relatives after the funeral.

We went through the receiving line without a hitch. The kids were absolutely perfect, well behaved and looked like classic triplets, all dressed up and on display.

We went a few pews back, sat down and quietly chatted with everyone around us. THEN Jay, who was too short to see into the casket earlier, spotted Uncle Tom up front, laying in his coffin. Jay curiously said, "somebody is up there asleep." Mr. Dairy Wife looked at me and I looked at him and we made a couple of winces and a few silent eye comments to each other, and decided that there was no way to explain to him and make him understand. He's just three years old. So we just said, "kinda like that" and let it go. Jay wouldn't let it go, and he had sparked the interest of Sam and Meg.

Jay, half-standing on his Daddy's lap, pointed to the front of the room and said it again, "Daddy, somebody is asleep in that there bed." This wasn't said quietly either. Sam then scrambled up to get a better look, said, "Who is that Daddy? Is ... he sick?," and Daddy quietly said, "It's just Tom." Meg piped in and said, "He don't feel good?" .... and at this point they erupted into a full blown loud chatter about the bed, who Tom is and how sick he was, and the fact that he was asleep in THAT bed.

After a five minute discussion about Uncle Tom and how he is now in Heaven, and now we have to sit down and be quiet and listen .... Megan very loudly and very sternly, in her high-pitched three year old girly voice, said, "Ja-ayyyy! Be quiet. Don't wake up Tom! He's sleee-epppping!"

Oh, the joys! .... and Oh, the embarrassment. No one actually snickered or commented ... they were too busy laughing. And they laughed some more. And, at the dinner afterward, they continued to laugh. I don't know how many times I heard, "Don't wake up Tom!"

Poor Tom! If only he could have heard. He would have laughed too!

Be Blessed Everyone.



P.S. One more thing, what's your opinion on a husband that is watching the kids while you're getting ready for a funeral, and he sits the "all-ready-to-walk-out-the-door-white-shirted-kids" down at the table to color ... and it's way too quiet, and you have N.E.V.E.R. been able to achieve that, so you know something is just NOT right. Then you walk into the dining room to see what is going on and he's furiously pulling wet wipes out of the container, trying to wipe the black permanent marker off their hands, faces and the table. What's your opinion. I'd really like to know. Do you think he needs another course in "Parenting 1-0-1?" .... or would you just kill him? We'll discuss this in the comments section ... okay?