By: Lauren Salvo

My three-year-old daughter stares at the wall wondering,

“Will I ever see him again?”
“Why can’t I see him now?”

Everything she had is lost
because we don’t want what is right in front of us.

Instead of loving what we have,
We hope to God what we had comes back.
But of course she feels this way, she is three.

She didn’t care much about that stuffed cat
her dad bought for her about a month ago,
but now she refuses to go anywhere without it.
She wants to run to the front door,
as her dad opens it and she jumps into his arms for a hug.
She wants to listen to a bedtime story and to fall asleep
As her dad barely finishes page three.

She was ignorant before today.
She thought she would live forever,
and that the people around her would live just as long.

She doesn’t talk like she used to,
but when she does, she is full of questions.

“Where is he now?”
“Will I ever get there?”

I never spoke to her about death before this morning
with tears running down my daughter’s face.
I guess I was ignorant too
because I never thought I would have to explain
death to someone who
just started living.