Their little world

My four year old started a conversation about death today during lunch. I'm not really sure how it all began. Perhaps it was in regard to my upcoming birthday and how old I am getting. He seems to be very interested in how old everyone is, and specifically how old he will be when others reach a certain age. He might have been talking about how old people are when they die. He retrieved a framed picture of his Nana (my grandmother) who was in her 80's when she died, and spoke about how old she was in the picture, and how old she was when she died. Then he stated quite definitively that "babies when they're first born can't die." I asked him why they can't and he matter-of-factly replied "it's not allowed." Oh, their little world of innocence and happiness, their world where only the old, after having lived a long and full life, are allowed to die. Then he asks me, "Is death forever?" me; "Yes, yes it is forever." him: "For always?" me: "Yes, for always. When you die, you don't ever come back." him: "Unless you have a magic wand, right?" It broke my heart to tell him that there is no magic wand. In real life, there is no magic wand.