More preschool theology

Since the Kid started to talk a lot more about praying to God and Jesus in school, I felt the need to step in a bit and tell her "a big secret" that she's not allowed to tell the teachers or other kids, but I wanted her to know about - that Mommy thinks Jesus and God are just pretend, like Cinderella.

Last week, we were talking about remembering things, and she told me she remembered the secret I'd told her, and she hadn't told anybody. Then she mused out loud about the nature of Jesus and God, and concluded that they are real, but live "on the other side of our planet,"* and that there's a giant gate so we can't go there (the pearly gates maybe?). She also recounted some of the Easter story, though she was most focused on the "the lady and her sweet little daughters" who approached the tomb, and the fact that Jesus was alive after all (no mention of actual resurrection).

In other news, she went to play at the neighbor's, and afterward told me that one of their dogs had gone on an airplane. At first I thought she meant they'd taken him on a family trip. But then she elaborated that he was up on a plane, and would be flying around forever, and couldn't ever come home. Now, I haven't asked them, but I'm guessing that they told her that the dog is "up in heaven," and she parsed that using her materialistic context. She is still sad though, that the dog can never come home - and that's the upshot of death, isn't it?

*That's also where the dinosaurs live, per other conversations.