I'm Rich!

I had a sort of epiphany today thanks to my son, Kyath. I am rich! I am filthy rich, richer than some people would or could ever imagine. I can hear everyone that knows me, laughing and saying that I have really lost it. De Ann, rich? She can barely make her house payments. She can't even afford gas to drive from Bountiful to Salt Lake to visit her parents (But who can?). She can't even afford haircuts for her kids. I mean seriously, her husband works for the church and here she is saying that she is rich. Well, I am and I am!

Last night we were at a friend's house. My boys were playing with her kids and we were just chatting. My children have never been to her house before. Let me describe her house a little bit. She has beautiful furniture, nicely decorated rooms and a theater room to die for. There is a trampoline in back and a great flat screen TV in the family room. They drive nice cars and seem to be happy.

As I gathered up the children to leave Kyath looked at me with big eyes and whispered so only I could hear, "Are they rich?" I asked him what he meant. He went on to describe the variety of gaming systems they had, the theater room, and the trampoline in back. I can't remember what I said, but his question has been echoing in my head all day.

In Kyath's eyes, my friend IS rich. She has a lot that we don't have or ever will have. But my friend is like every other person that lived in our last neighborhood. Almost everyone had beautiful furniture, drove nice cars and had wonderful houses. (Which is why we moved so that we could fit in a little better.) Everyone enjoyed that kind of life.

My friend and all my previous neighbors probably look at the houses on the hill and thinks, "Wow, what would it be like to live that kind of life?" or "If only I had what they have."

My whole point is there is always someone that makes less than my family does and always someone that makes more than my family does. So in some one's eyes, I am rich. I have a home. I have a car. I even have a television. There is some one's child looking at us thinking "Are they rich?"