Elaine, I see this, too: "I do believe that children’s faith is so much more pure than our own and reverting back to basic love &amp; faith can give us some measure of strength." I actually have been trying to remember how I used to think about heaven when I was a child. Also, the e e cummings poem *did* lift my soul a bit, in that intense happy-sad way. So beautiful. Thanks for thinking of sharing it. 

Tracy, thank you. In S's fourth grade class Monday they read and talked about the book The Giving Tree, then made a huge giving tree in honor of Maricela. On each leaf and apple the kids wrote something that Maricela had given to them, their school and the world. It was a really moving, joyful experience for S, and I'm sure for her classmates, too. (They also learned about the staged of mourning, and S announced to me that she's in the Denial stage.)