Where Hercules went

If you ask the adults in this family where Hercules went, you'll get one of two answers. If you are under the age of 7, you'll learn that Hercules is our special guardian angel. I might even tell them how lucky we are to have someone extra special taking care of us. If you are over the age of 7, I'll describe the loss of my first biological child and talk about how I'm learning to deal with the unfairness of it. That I can't help but feeling angry that someone thought they could take better care of my child than I can. I'm getting over the angry part, and working on coming to peace... but I haven't quite reached that stage yet.

If you ask Austin, Hercules has blue or white hair and he is up in heaven. Hercules may be on a cloud one day or sleeping in the sunshine the next. Austin may bring you a book the doctor's gave us and read it aloud to you (he has it memorized by now). He'll tell you through tear filled eyes that he misses Hercules, but may ask to watch the Backyardigans on Netflix shortly after to feel better. He deals with it like you would expect a 6 year old to.

If you ask William, he'll adamantly tell you Hercules is with God. Fighting Ninjas. Or bowling. I'm not an expert on God by any means, so I'm certainly not in any position to correct a three year old on God's daily activities. He goes to a Lutheran preschool, so it seems like he may be onto something.

If you ask Wyatt, he'll tell you that Hercules is in his belly. I don't think Hercules is literally in his belly and I don't really think he is figuratively either. Wyatt is two so he may very well mean his heart. But he will adamantly deny any such notion and will continue to claim that Hercules is in fact in his belly.