Our little talk about death

I have never hidden the reality of death from Alex. Some may not agree but in my opinion it's a fact of life and I want my child to know about it. I don't lie to him and tell him that mommy will live forever etc. He went to a my uncles funeral and even went to the body viewing. Did he really understand the finality of death? No, I'm pretty sure he didn't. In his mind "gone forever" is to hard to understand. However, here recently I have noticed a big change in him. His thought process is alot different and he is starting to really think about things. Last night I was checking the channel 8 news on the Internet. They had a picture of a man dressed in his army uniform who had been killed in the war. They were announcing his funeral and had a really nice article about him and his family. Alex saw the picture and asked who he was. So I read the story to him and explained that this wonderful man went to war for our country and unfortunately he died while doing it. Alex sat there for a few seconds thinking. I could literally see his wheels turning! Then our discussion begins! He says "mommy, there is a kid in my class who wants to be in the army and go to war." I'm thinking oh great he's going to want to do the same. Not that I don't admire those who go off and fight for our country, but the thought of my baby boy going terrifies me. "I was like oh well that's interesting, what do you think about that?" He was like (mind you while he's doing this he's rolling his eyes) "well I don't really want to do that, it kind of scares me." then he tells me about his little friend. "he isn't scared to go, but he doesn't understand things." "jeez, doesn't he know that when he goes to war he could die! then NEVER come back?!" I just sat there silently listening to him wondering how in the world he has changed so fast. It has happened almost overnight! He then told me that this little boy really believes that when you die you come right back to life. He then tells me "Mom, I know God loves us all so much, but he can't just go poof and bring you back to life!" I thought wow he really does listen to me (to some degree anyway!) and now he has thoughts and opinions for himself! I agree with him and verify that no God can't just go poof and bring us back to life. Then we move on as fast as we got there. If someone would have told me six months ago that age 7 would bring SO many changes, I would have never believed them!