Are We Rich?

Last night during an episode of The Middle, the Heck family’s neighbor called them rich, what with their two kinds of chips and their one dad.

Alyssa asked me as I tucked her into bed if we were rich, because, hello, we have like five kinds of chips in our house and, like the Heck’s, only one dad.

I laughed and told her that we are very, very blessed. We have a nice home, plenty (more than plenty) of clothes to wear, shoes without holes and warm coats each and every winter. We have the money to buy fuel to heat our house and we can afford gymnastics classes for the girls.

But more than that, I explained, we are rich in love. We have so much love flowing into and out of our house. We love each other with abandon and we love others as much as we can.

She rolled her eyes but also smiled at my response.

She also quipped, “And we have a lot more than two kinds of chips.”

Speaking of all the clothes we have to wear, yesterday afternoon Alyssa informed me that on Friday (let’s remember that yesterday was Wednesday) she needed to wear black pants, black socks, black shoes and a white shirt to school because the fifth grade band is performing for Grandparent’s Day.

Yes. She told me this two days before the performance.

I shrugged. “Well, since I bought you some black pants to give you for Christmas, I guess you’ll wear those. I have black socks and you can borrow my black shoes too, while you still fit into my shoes. I’m sure we can find you a white shirt somewhere in your closet.”

And guess what? We did find that white shirt. Her outfit is hanging in her closet right now waiting for tomorrow morning, when she’ll don it, brush her hair and have me braid it into a Katniss braid, which is her current favorite hairdo.

Rich, indeed.