By Pat LaPointe

I am not a camper. However, there was one occasion that I came close to it.

My mother had passed away in September — her children and, even more so, her great-grandchildren were consumed with grief. Many were crying themselves to sleep at night. We needed to try giving the kids some relief.

In mid-October, we rented a five-bedroom house one hundred and fifty miles from home for the entire family. The home was on a lake and surrounded by a forest.

The kids enjoyed the hot tub and trips to the lake. The adults competed for the best meals they cooked from scratch.

Then there was the night of the bonfire, complete with S’mores.

The sky was clear. My grandson Eddie had been unusually quiet while we snacked.

I asked him if he was OK.

“Grandma. You said Great Grandma is now part of the whole universe. I was thinking she might be one of the stars,” he replied.

I asked which one he thought might be her.

The rest of the grandkids heard this and began choosing her star.

I could see that, one by one, they were beginning to relax.

“You guys did a great job finding the stars. But you know what’s really great? The stars are always there, even if it’s cloudy. So you know Great Grandma is always shining on you,” I said.

We only heard the sound of gentle, soft breathing from the kids as they slept that night.

©  2024 Patricia LaPointe

Pat LaPointe, creator of Share Your Voice, an online interactive community for all women. She is editor of the anthology; The Woman I’ve Become: 37 Women Share Their Journeys from Toxic Relationships to Self-Empowerment. In addition, she has conducted writing workshops for women — both online and onsite. Pat’s essays and short stories have been published widely in anthologies, literary journals and on Medium.com @patromitolapointe. Currently, Pat is completing her first novel.