Spense was taking a bath and said, “Ma, I have to tell you something. So today at school Matthew said that someday I would be a man and you would be an old woman and then you will die. Is this true?”

My heart began to pound and my stomach dropped. I’d been dreading this moment.

He looked at me with horrible fear.

I couldn’t lie – though I wanted to. And I longed for the cushy belief in Heaven. I get it now. I get why people are religious. Here was a defining moment for my child. I could give him religion right now with one word – Heaven.

But that’s not what I believe and so I did this….

“Yes. But we don’t need to think about this or worry about it for a very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very long time. Would you like a cookie?”

I did OK, right?