Senator Kennedy

Henry noticed on the drive out to West Virginia that many flags were at half-staff. I explained that this was done to honor someone important who has died, and in this case it was to honor Senator Kennedy. I said that he had worked with Barack Obama. "But, how did he die?” I said he had a disease, and he was very old. "Is Barack Obama going to die?" Not for a long time I said, when he's very old. "Does everyone die?" I said that we all die eventually, but not for a very long time. “But I don’t want to die!” I know, I said, but even after someone dies, those who knew the person remember him, and the good works he did in the world live on. He wasn’t too satisfied with this, but let it drop.

The next day, Henry asked, "Mama, when Sen-a-tor Ken-ne-dy died, did that just mean... was he just not really there anymore?"

Yes, I said.