I had the following thoughtful conversation with my 4-year-old when we got home from running errands today:

Him: Mommy, do dogs get old and die?
Me: Yes.
Him: Do people get old and die?
Me: Yes.
Him: People use food to grow up, so I don’t want to eat food and grow old and die.
Me: *sigh*  E4, you need to eat food to live. Do you want to live?
Him: Yes.
Me: Then you need to eat food.
Him: Do mommies get old and die?
Me: Yes, but I’m not going to get old and die for a long long long long time.
Him: Do kids get new mommies when their mommies die?
Me: No, honey. You only get one mommy.
Him: But what would happen to me?
Me: Oh honey. If I died, daddy would take care of you. And aunt Rachel, and Grandma Uma, and Bumpa, and Grandma Suzanne and PopPop Justin. Lots and lots of people love you as much as mommy and daddy love you, so I don’t want you to worry about that, okay?
Him: Okay.
Me: Now, do you want to eat something?
Him: Okay.

It’s hard being a parent sometimes.