Out of the mouths of babes

Sometimes, inspiration, insight, and comfort come from the least expected places. Being taught a lesson in love by a 7-year-old is a humbling experience.

My poor son has a abscess in his tooth. A week ago, he told me after close of business that he had a toothache. I called the dentist anyway and got the recording, of course. I called again the following Monday and scheduled an appointment for my poor little guy for the following Monday. By Tuesday, he was completely miserable so I called again and managed an early morning appointment for Wednesday.

He was such a little trooper, only fussing when he got the shots of Novocain and cracking silly knock-knock jokes when the pedo-dontist wasn't in his mouth. It was almost unbearable to hear him cry out from the needle. I cried when he did. As the needle pierced his little gums, it also pierced my heart. Unfortunately, the infection in the abscess was so bad that the local anesthesia couldn't penetrate it to numb the tooth root. He went through all those shots for nothing as we were sent home with prescriptions for antibiotics and pain killers.

Later on that night, I was talking with him just before sending him to bed. He had come into my room and sat on the bed next to me.

"Daddy, I'm glad we're not rich."
"What do you mean, buddy?"
"Rich people don't care about a lot of stuff."
"Like what?"
"Like kids."

At this point, he reached up and put his little arm around my shoulders and squeezed. I looked at my son and said, "I'm plenty rich, buddy." and he gave me a huge hug.

Where do kids get this insight and how do they make it seem so simple?