He would ask where his horse was and he wanted to know what happened to it.
My husband and I would tell him that he didn't have a horse, and he would get rather agitated insisting that he did have a horse and he wanted to know where it was. He would ask what we did with it.
One evening while driving home in our car, he asked again. He was just over three years of age at the time. Out of the blue he said, "Mommy, where is my horse?"
I answered him as I always did and said, "Buddy, I don't know what you're talking about. You don't have a horse." He got a little angry and insisted that he did have a horse.
My daughters who were 10 and 8 at the time, were in the car as well, and they began laughing. Both of them asked him why he always asked about a horse when he's never even had one.
My son got really upset, he began to cry and through tears he said, "Yes I did." Why do you guys keep telling me I don't have a horse, I did have a horse and he was a really good horse. Where did he go? What happened to him?"
I couldn't believe how emotional my son got. For whatever reason he was convinced that he at one time owned a horse. I immediately told my daughter's to stop laughing. I told them that for whatever reason he very much believed that he had a horse and he obviously missed the horse, and it wasn't funny.
Both of my daughter's commented that he probably dreamt it. My son piped up immediately and while still crying, was very agitated and frustrated. He said, "I didn't dream it. It's real. I had a horse and I used to tie him up outside my other house."
My youngest daughter asked, "What other house?"
My son answered, "The house I lived in before. I would tie my horse up by the house sometimes."
My older daughter intercepted and told him, "We never lived in a house where you could tie up a horse."
My son said, "You didn't live there with me."
Both of my daughter's laughed and teased him, asking how he could have lived in a house before by himself when he's only a kid.
My son then said, "It was before I was kid, I was a grown-up then."
Naturally my daughter's laughed again and told him you can't be an adult before you're a kid.
Still rather agitated he said "I know that, it was before now."
My youngest daughter told him that none of what he was saying made sense. My son didn't say another word the rest of the drive home.
That night when we got home, while my daughter's got ready for bed, I helped my son change into his pajama's and brush his teeth. I then got him into his bed and tucked him in. As I bent down to kiss him good-night he asked me, "Mommy, what happened to my horse? Did my wife take good care of him?"
I sat down on his bed and said, "Your wife?"
He said, "Yeah. I had a nice wife. She loved me a lot. She was a good wife. When I had to leave to go to war she was really sad, she cried, she didn't want me to go. She was scared I would die but I promised her I would be back. I couldn't go back, I died, I got shot. Do you think she misses me?"
I didn't know what to say to him. He then asked me, "Will I see her again?"
I still didn't know what to say, so I said, "I don't know pal."
I then told him not to worry about any of that. I told him that his wife probably took excellent care of his horse after he left.
My son smiled at me and said, "Yeah, you're probably right Mommy."
I gave him a hug and a kiss good-night. He seemed much happier. He smiled at me and said, "Good-night Mommy."
As I left his room I couldn't help but wonder why he would say all of that. I seriously wondered if he was remembering a past life. It was all very surreal to say the very least.
My dad is quite knowledgeable about the many civil wars, as well as the first two world wars. He is very interested in all of that stuff and is always reading up on it, and he owns many, many books about all of the various wars.
So, the next day I called my dad and told him about everything my son said. My dad suggested that I let my son look through the various war books my dad has, so that my son could look at the many photos and see if he recognized any of it. I thought it was a good idea.
A couple of days later while at my parent's home, my dad got out a few of his books about the various wars. My son was enthralled with all of it. There were pages and pages of photos showing the various uniforms and weapons of the soldiers. There were also various photos of the many battlefields.
My son came across some photos of civil war uniforms and immediately pointed to one and said, "Hey! That uniform right there is like the one I wore!"
He then started talking about the various parts of the uniform and what the soldiers carried etc. He then began talking about the various guns and how to load them. I was really surprised. How could my son who was a little over three years of age, possibly have so much knowledge about a civil war soldier's uniform and their artillery?
After the night I tucked my son into bed and he mentioned having a wife and going off to war, he never talked about his horse again or asked about it. He also never mentioned anything else about a wife. He did however continue to enjoy looking at the pictures in many of my dad's various war books.
He also continued to play war, and pretend to be a soldier. He continued to enjoy playing with his toy guns and his little army soldiers. In fact, whenever he played, it was always something to do with being a soldier.
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