Paraphrasing

This song is about someone's mother who died, but might not be gone forever. The speaker thinks that she is still here, "Now that she's back in the atmosphere." Which is just saying that she has come back to Earth after traveling to Heaven. The speaker seems really curious about what his mother is doing and where she went after life. Even though people die, they don't disappear. The speaker seems to feel his mothers presence, because he keeps asking her questions like, "...did you make it to the Milky Way?" He just wants confirmation that she is there with him and that she is okay.