My 9 yo old son has just woken up, and comes downstairs to greet me as I am getting ready for work.

Son: “Daddy, what am I worth?”

Daddy has also just awoken, so isn’t as sharp as might be needed.

Me: “What do you mean, boyo?”

Son: “Well, I heard that Bill Gates is worth something like a billion billions dollars, and so I want to know what I am worth?”

Daddy responds quickly, and buys time to think of a better answer than this…

Me: “Well boyo, Bill Gates was in a software company that wound up selling billions of dollars of software over like 30 years all over the world, and became very wealthy.”

Son: “Ok Daddy, so what am I worth.”

The pressure continues.  Daddy knows that this is the moment.  A moment.  A potential turning point in the outlook of a youngster.  He is the son.  I am the father.  He wants to know.

As quick as I could think, this is all I could come up with in that moment :

Me: “Boyo, you are priceless.”

I felt weak, but hopeful for this effort.

Son : “Oh, NOW I see how it is all coming together!”

And we both laughed.

I am not sure what he concluded.