I Think He is Finally Is Starting to Understand!

Starting to understand difficult emotions
is tricky but he is making it happen in his way!

I was in a Johnny Depp mood yesterday (come on admit it... you have those days also!)  Score!!!! I found my favorite Johnny Depp movie of all times, What's Eating Gilbert Grape? on Netflix.  I settled in and started and then my daughter and husband came home so I had to start again, poor me!!
Anyway, back to the movie.  Great stuff, several similarities to our family, again, it is really great!  We made it to almost the end of the movie and James decided to join us for good.  He had been in and out for most of the movie but for some reason, this time he stayed.  He watched the mum labor to walk up the stairs, much like he has seen me do a thousand times, he watched her climb into bed and get comfy, just like he has seen me do every night.  He watched her sleep.  He watched her autistic son greet her in the morning with the exuberance James has when he greets me when I am still sleeping.  He watched the son try several times to rouse her without success.  He watched him cry.
Brian, Charlotte and I were all in tears and James just watched as they moved their personal belongings out of the house and lit it on fire to save their mum from the final humiliation of having to have the roof removed to get her out of the house with a crane.   James watched and finally said....."Mom, she died twice.  I will be so sad when you die one time." And then he was gone.  Back to the busy world he lives in.  I sat there for a moment and thought, He gets it.  He is starting to understand the fragility of life as he crashes through it.  
One day, he will face mortality and the finality of a dear one, and even though he may experience it differently than we would expect, he will still experience it.  And that is a good thing because it is typical and that is always our hope, that he will be typical.