worst case scenario, you die on your trip

so i'm leaving for jamaica in a few days. crazy, i know. so i was telling noah, who is desperately mommy attached, the news today when the days until i leave could be counted on his fingers and he could have time to process, because his best coping skill is to recite a sequence of unsettling events until he makes his peace with it. more on that later.

so i'm telling noah for the first time but caleb's heard it before, and his first reaction was jealousy and frustration that he wasn't coming with. tonight, however, he startled me by responding in an unemotional and matter of fact voice "worst case scenario is you die on your trip."

I took a few seconds to process/recover from the fact that my kid, who had just turned 5, 1) just properly used the phrase 'worst case scenario,' 2) that for being a very emotionally sensitive kid he said it so calmly, and 3) that he even associated travel with potential death (which with all the trips seb takes we have been at pains not to bring up.) i responded that that probably was the worst thing that could happen on my trip but that daddy and aunt charlotte and lots of other grown ups take trips all the time and come back just fine and caleb and noah had taken trips before and so though it was possible, it probably wouldn't happen. 

and that was that. 

i have the distinct impression that life with a five year old is going to look a whole lot different than 4 year old.