It’s hard to explain death to a 4-year-old.
Miles Lucier couldn’t wrap his head around what death meant. His goldfish had died the year before. Their dog Copper had passed away a month earlier, and his mother Tricia Reagan tried to explain that the same thing happened to his half sister Sarah. But Copper had lived to 105 in dog years. Sarah Saponara was just 21.
His mother said his sister took medication that wasn’t hers. It had dangerous stuff in it, and it made her die. Death, she explained, meant he wouldn’t see Sarah again.
Two years passed before Miles and Tricia really talked about how she died again. It would come up randomly — at the grocery store, the park and the zoo: “Tell me how Sarah died."
As Miles grew older, he had more questions: Where did Sarah get the medicine? Did the doctor give it to her? Could all medicines hurt you?
