Death and 5-year olds

So my paternal grandmother passed away when I was five. The funeral was so much fun! No school, lots of visitors, cousins to play & camp overnight with, plus an endless supply of cold drinks and food. It was so much fun, I wished the only other grandparent I had could die soon so that we could have another 'celebration'! When she did die, I was already in my late twenties and by then, funerals had taken on a different meaning and colour altogether.

Fast forward to yesterday. We brought the small one to his Great-granduncle's wake...

Your Ye-Ye's Gu-Gu died. We are going to his funeral. He's body is lying in the coffin.
>>> Is he going to be a star?
Yes.
>>> Can he open his eyes?
No.
>>> So how is he going to get out?
...he's already a star now. Everyone has a soul and the soul leaves the body to become a star.
>>> *Pointing to his feet* HERE???
No lar! This SOUL is different from the one on your feet.
>>> Where's my soul?
... Close your eyes!
*he closes his eyes*
...THERE!!!
*he opens his eyes in wonder*
>>>So how does the soul get out? Where's the hole?
Do you perspire?
>>> Orh!!! Through the tiny tiny holes in our skin arh?
YEP!

Later, at the wake...the big one lifted the boy up to have a look. I was looking at them both. The big one, by his expression, was worried that the small one would be frightened to see a person in the 'box'. The small one however, was not one bit scared. He saw what we told him he would see - a body in the 'box' and nothing more.

In fact, he wanted to look very closely, and from all sides! He even noted that there was a pair of spectacles in the old man's pocket! And made us lift him for another 2 times to see.

It was an amazing experience for me to watch them both.

Through the eyes and minds of five-year-olds, death is simple, purely an incident of nature and unadulterated by any irrational fear.