Jenna Bush Hager Writes Powerfully of George H. W. Bush's Dream of Being Reunited With Loved Ones in the Afterlife
Just hours after news broke that George H. W. Bush had passed away, his granddaughter Jenna Bush Hager took to Instagram to share something that gave her comfort in her grief.
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A post shared by jennabhager (@jennabhager) on Dec 1, 2018 at 4:18am PST
The 41st president's granddaughter-who lived in the White House when her own father served as the 43rd President of the United States-first shared two photos of herself, her twin sister Barbara Bush, and their grandfather together. She offered a lovely, brief message in a comment, which finished with this: "I will miss him desperately but so happy he and my grandmother are back together."
That sentiment flowed into a second post, which featured a now-viral cartoon by illustrator Marshall Ramsey. In it former First Lady Barbara Bush and a young girl (their late daughter, Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush) greet George in heaven. "We waited for you," Barbara says in a speech bubble.
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A post shared by jennabhager (@jennabhager) on Dec 1, 2018 at 4:21am PST
Robin was the Bushes' second child and oldest daughter, born when George W. Bush was three years old. She died just before her fourth birthday in 1953, not long after being diagnosed with leukemia. The trauma of losing a child so young had a life-long impact on Barbara and George. As Susan Page, a reporter working on a biography of Barbara Bush, told the Washington Post, "I think this was a very powerful tragedy in their lives. No mother would ever forget a child, but Robin has remained a real presence for them."
Bush Hager's comment alongside the cartoon confirmed this.
"I had the opportunity to talk with my grandpa about the afterlife," she wrote. "He replied, 'I hope I see Robin, and I hope I see my mom. I haven't yet figured out if it will be Robin as the three-year-old that she was, this kind of chubby, vivacious child, or if she'll come as a middle-aged woman, an older woman.' And then he said, 'I hope she's the three-year-old.'"
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