My Lady of the Lantern

Figlia, who among other things has no trouble walking from the living room to our bedroom in our non-big flat, or using the loo alone, has suddenly started acting jumpy, and scared. She needs to hear, or sense the presence of a living adult to do these kind of things.  When adults (MIL plus the Nanny plus the Cleaning Lady) talk all the highfalutin about "Sigh, the house is so empty, lonely, does not feel like a house anymore, and the spirit is always with us, the body is gone, and he is looking down upon us, and he is here but we cannot see him", and there is an impressionable six year old listening to the reel playing on loop, well... Now I am gently feeding to Figlia that spirit is not a ghost, and that FIL was benevolent to her in person, and will never be anything else as a soul. And that there are no ghosts in the house.

FIL died last Monday. Keeping his wishes in mind, he was not cre.mated. There was a rush of people and things in the week past, and tonight we leave for our hometown for a couple of days to complete a few rites. Figlia and M have exams next week. I have mixed feelings about him passing away. He was in vegetative state for last six months, and despite a lot of nursing care and timely feeds and whatnot, he lost a lot of weight, and muscle mass by the end. I did not have a very linear relationship with him, and my feelings on his passing away are all over the place. My MIL will continue to remain with us, from this point on, even though she may visit the hometown at times.  I met my PhD guide a few days back, and well, there are very few people who can hit me with a bat on my face (not literally, obviously) and I still value their take. He shook me up. He made me realize a point I had completely overseen in my overall perspective towards professional and personal relation...