During a lesson about the earth today, a student asked me:

"Do we ever leave this earth?"
Not sure if I am capable to talk about death with a 5-year-old, I hesitated, but still replied:
"Well, when you die you would leave this earth...."

"Why don't we live forever?"
I decided to not shy away from serious & complex verbiage, and replied:
"Well, we're humans.  Human fraility...you know?  We will eventually grow old and die.."

"Well, will we go to outer space?" 
Diverting hit attention to something else, I joking said, "well, if you become an astronaut, you can fly to outer space. "

Then seemingly having discussed this matter with other adults, he said
"When we die...do we go up to the sun?  Like angels?  And will we still be connected?  And what does connected mean, Ms. Kwan?"

I took my hand out & held his hand.  "Connected means we're together, like we are now."

He seemed reassured after that, smiled back at me & returned to his book. 

It's been such a pleasurable read ... that I regret speeding through this memoir rather than delight in the anecdotes of the family of three, transporting their 21st century urban lives and spend 4 seasons on a farm like people would in the 1900's. 

Among the many passages this rang true to my heart -- as I venture out for a bit of time travel in the coming weeks to my parents' places of childhood, tracing the remnants of their past ..

An excerpt of the author & his conversation with a neighbor named John.
----

"Why bother about the past?"

He (John) is silent for a minute.  "When you think about it, the past is all we have.  It's where t lives in us all .... we've been," he says. "And we sure as hell don't know where we're going."

"then it's a guide for how to live?" I ask.

"I don't think the past should dictate the future, but it's a good foundation.  Passing down culture from generation to generation is one of the things that separates man from other creatures... we find ourselves through the long trail of those who've come before us."

Those who don't care about the past are disoriented, he says, showing no regard for the land, for humanity, for themselves... the skills Heather and I have learned, the hardships and joys we've experienced, the people we have met during this year in forgotten America , have awakened me to the power of the past.  I think of Clyde Tillman & his intuitive grasp of draft horses, Michael & his shaving horse, Bill & his heirloom tomatoes...I think about the relentless march of progress.  The past may be easy to forget , but it is not dead. ... this project isn't about escape.  It's about exploring those inalienable realities facing humanity since the dawn of time -- food, water, nature, community.  It's about finding our place in the continuum of history...