Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Friendly Ghost

Dear Dad,

My son Peter has started having nightmares. It used to be monsters he was afraid of, so we got him a book that taught him to "do karate" (fake chops and kicks into the air) to scare off the monsters.

Now he has moved on to ghosts. I am not even sure where he is getting the whole ghost thing from, but he wakes up scared that they are going to get him, and crying uncontrollably. Until the other night when he was having an especially bad night.

I climbed into bed with Peter and asked him why the ghosts scared him. He didn't really have an answer, so I told him that maybe they were friendly ghosts. Than I proceed to tell him something I had never really told one of my children - my father is dead.

Since ghosts seem a little more real to Peter (your name sake, by the way) than angels do, I thought this was as good a time as any. I explained to Peter that my daddy had died before he was born, and that now he was a "friendly ghost" who watched over us and took care of us.

At first Peter cried and said that he wanted me to get to see my daddy. I almost lost it then, and teared up with him. But, eventually we kept talking and knowing that you were a friendly ghost taking care of him seemed to calm him down.

Yesterday, when I picked him up from a play-date at a friend's house I was informed that he was telling Trey (his friend) that "My Mommy's Dad is a Friendly Ghost." He has also been much more interested in looking at the pictures of you that I keep around the house.

His nightmares have subsided thus far, and I am happy that he now knows a little more about his grandfather and why he isn't around anymore.

I miss you, my friendly ghost!

Love,
Jill