Ida tõmbas hommikul aknal kardinad eest ja avastas, et meie hotelli vastas on kirik. “Kas me läheme sinna kirikusse?” hakkas ta kohe mult uurima. Mul ei olnud iseenesest selle vastu mitte midagi, mulle meeldib kirikuid uurida ja nii ma lubasingi Idale, et enne üht kohtumist läheme kirikut vaatama. Kahjuks oli kirik kinni. Või ei leidnud ma õiget ust üles. Ega ma väga ei süvenenud ka. Pole ju nii oluline ka.

Aga Ida jaoks ilmselt oli. Kohtumisel hakkas ta mult uurima, et kas kirik on nüüd lahti ja kuna me ikka kirikusse läheme. Tõlkisin oma koostööpartnerile ka, et laps tahab kirikusse. “Ma ei ole veel enne kuulnud, et laps kirikusse tahaks,” ütles ta. Mina ka mitte. “Kuna me hakkame minema?” ei jätnud Ida mind rahule, “ma tahan enne minna, kui kirik uuesti kinni pannakse.” Ma sain aru, et lapse soov kirikut külastada on tõsine. Kui ma ütlesin, et nüüd võime minna, plaksutas ta käsi ja hüppas üles-alla.

Jalutasime peale kohtumisi tagasi hotelli (ehk siis ka kiriku) poole ja Ida oli elevil. Ma olin juba ise ka põnevil, et mis värk on. Jõudsime lõpuks kirikuni, aga see oli ikka kinni. Lugesin seinalt, et uksed avatakse kell viis igaõhtuseks jumalateenistuseks. Selgitasin Idale, et kirik on kinni, ent tehakse õhtul lahti ja läksime tuppa pitsat sööma.

Kui te arvate, et sellega lugu lõppes, siis te eksite. Ida istus oma pitsaga aknalauale ja piidles kirikut, vahe peal ikka küsis, et kas juba tehakse lahti. Mul oli täiega plaan ta üle lasta, aga kui ta ikka viie ajal ütles, et tuled põlevad ukse juures, ütlesin ma talle, et pangu ta end siis riidesse ja lähme. Ausalt, see laps pole kunagi end nii kiiresti riidesse saanud kui nüüd.

Nii me kell viis jumalateenistusele läksimegi. Ida istus mõnda aega vaikselt ja uudistas. 10 minutit kannatas ära ja palus siis, et me lahkuks. Lahkumisega oli ka selline naljakas seik, et ma suutsin ära unustada, millisest uksest me sisse tulime ja üritasin välja lammutada uksest, mis oli tabalukuga kinni. Jõudsin juba mõelda, et oleme raudselt mingite viimasepäeva kummardajate sekti koosolekule sattunud, kes kohe endalt rõõmsalt koos elu võtavad, aga no minulik ju…et ma uksega eksisin.

Lahkudes küsisin Idalt, et kas talle siis meeldis kirikus. Ida kirtsutas nina. Sain aru, et midagi jäi puudu. “Ma tahtsin surnud onusid näha,” vastas ta mulle.

Tegelikult ma tean küll, kust see tuleb, ei ole laps päris friik. Me kunagi tegime Stockholmis aega parajaks ja käisime seal Toomkirikus. Ida uuris, et mis need suured mürakad kastid maas on. Selgitasin talle, et need on hauad. Aga kuidas seletada kolme-aastasele, mis on haud? Püüdsin talle rääkida, et vanaks jäädeks surrakse lõpuks ära, pannakse inimesed mulla alla ja mälestuseks on hauad ja hauakivid. Selgitasin nagu täiskasvanule, sest ei osanud ma kuidagi lapsekeeles rääkida. Lisasin vaid, et seal kivide all on surnud onud – surnud kuningad. Ju talle siis see meelde jäi, et kirikus on kivide all peidus surnud onud. Vot sulle lapse aju.

Surm huvitab teda üldse teemana väga. Ma ei tea, kas peaks muretsema või on see mingi järjekordne vanuseetapp, kus surmaga seotud teemadele tuleb vastust anda. Mul oleks kodus nagu mini versioon Ebapärlikarbist, kes sellistel teemadel filosofeerib.

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One morning, Ida pulled off the curtains from the window and discovered a chuch opposite our hotel. Immediately she started to ask if „we are going to visit that church?“ I was not against it, I myself like to explore churches, so I promised her to visit it before one meeting. Unfortunately, the church was closed. Or I couldn’t find the right door. I didn’t really pay attention to be honest. It wasn’t important anyway.

But apparently it was important to Ida. At the meeting, she started to ask questions about the church being opened and when will we go there. I had to translate my business partner, that my child wants to go to a church. His was surprised, as never had he heard of a child wanting to go to a church. Neither had I. But Ida would not leave me alone. „When are we gonna go? I want to go before it closes again,“ I understood that her wish to go was very serious. When I finally told it was time, she started to clap her hands and jump up-and-down.

We were walking back to the hotel (towards the church) and Ida was very excited. I was getting excited as well. Finally we arrived, but it was still closed. Luckily, I could read from the message board, that doors will be opened at 5PM for the evening service. I explaned it to Ida and we went into our room to eat pizza.

If you think that was the end of the story, you are so wrong. Ida sat on the window sill with her pizza slice and kept a keen eye on the church. Asking every now and again, if it will be opened already. I was actually planning to „forget the whole thing“, but when she said around 5PM the lights being on, I told her to get dressed as we are going. Honestly, that child has never ever dressed so quickly.

So we attended the 5PM service. Ida sat quietly for a while and was just looking around. She was able to sit still for 10 minutes and then asked to go away. Leaving was funny for us as I managed to forget which door was the entrance one. So I tried to exit from the one, that was all chained up. I already started to imagine that we were accidentally participating a meeting for a weird religious sect, who are all about to take their own lives … with a smile on their face. But then again, that was so me … to mix up the doors.

As we were walking out, I asked Ida, if she liked the church. She only pulled a face. Straight away I understood, that for her, something was missing. „I wanted to see the dead men too“ she replied.

I actually DO know where this all came from, my child is not a freak. A while ago, we had some spare time in Stockholm and so we visited the Dome Cathedral. Ida was asking about the gigantic box shape rocks on the floor, which I replied to be tombs. But how do you explain to a 3-year old, what a tomb is? I tried by saying, that when you get very old, people will die, they will be buried and left with grave and a grave plate as memorial. I was explaining like I would to an adult, as I didn’t know how to put it in a child`s language. I only added, that under those rocks are dead men – dead kings. She must have remembered, that in churches you have dead men under the rocks. There you go – a child’s mind.

Death as a subject is very intriguing for her. I am not sure weather to worry or is it yet another phase she is going through and requires answers to death related topics. It’s like I have a mini version of Ebapärlikarp (one of my favorite bloggers) at home, who likes to philosophize on these kind of topics.