he looks like magic

Hadley informed me she needed to go upstairs to see Grandpa "Hope" who was laying in Hayden's new big girl bed. "Who?" I asked. "Grandpa Hope. And Grandma Sally. And they are snuggling the baby."

Hadley has never met my dad because he died when I was four months pregnant with her. And I've always referred to him as Grandpa Kern. I've showed her pictures and sometimes she will identify a picture of him as Grandpa. But the Grandpa she knows is Grandpa Jim.

Now, as a reminder before I state the next thing, I tend to be a bit of a skeptic about the after life. And ghosts. And spirits. I like to think there is a way we go on loving our families after we die and that my dad is able to be with his grandchildren in spirit, but I also entertain the idea of when it's over, it's over.

Anyway...

Grandpa Cope was what I called my dad's dad. And I suspect it is what my dad would have wanted to have been called. So I asked her "What does Grandpa look like?" And she replied "He looks like magic. He's sparkly."

So many things run through my head... And I know this is likely her little imagination. My brother's baby is due any day now, so there has been lots of talk of the baby. And visiting Grandma Sally, Uncle Sean, Auntie Christian and the baby. And where the Grandpa "Hope" thing came in, I just don't know.

But I'm not going to lie... While I thought the whole interaction was strange, it made my heart smile.