Divine Discussion

I was riding in a taxi with Kate and Charlie today, and Kate unexpectedly asked me,"Mummy, what does Heaven look like?"

So I answered her as well as I could, saying,"Well, Kate, no one really knows what Heaven looks like, because you have to actually die to see it, and you can't actually come back and tell everyone about it after, can you?"

She mulled that over for a second, and then asked,"Is Heaven real?"  And I again answered,"I don't know, that would also require dying to know about."

So Charlie piped in,"We can find out."

And Kate said to him in her best older-than-you-so-I-am-so-mature-and-knowledgeable voice,"Well, Charlie, only people who are really old, or have been shot, die."  And then she turned to me and said,"I think Heaven must be on a cloud, that's why people in Heaven can watch us after they die."

I shrugged, and then Charlie said in his you-idiot voice,"Nooo, rain comes from clouds."

Kate ignored him and postulated that the cloud that Heaven was on must be a really big cloud, above all the other clouds, as it had to be big enough for all the dead people.  And then she did some free-form thought:

"There are a lot of dead people aren't there."
"People from The Past (which they studied in school this past year) are dead."
"Some people from Ancient Egypt are dead." [I replied,"Yes, just some." and had a hard time not falling apart at that one]
"Are there different Heavens for people from different countries?" [a very interesting thought for a 6 1/2 year-old; she doesn't know that much about what different religions believe, but she has picked up a little bit, being in such a multi-cultural school]

And then she held up a finger and said,"I know!
I think Heaven must be in outer space!  It has to be, because it has to be big enough so people form different countries can all go to the same one!"