The Miracle Cure

Over the last couple weeks, Ella has experienced her share of bumps and bruises.

Those include:

• Falling off the couch/chair
• Pinching her finger in her folding step stool
• Hitting herself with a toy
• Running fast and falling on the floor
• Stubbing her toe
• Dropping books on her feet
• Shutting the refrigerator door on her fingers

The list goes on and on. Some of the more serious “boo boo’s” bring tears. Most of them don’t make her cry at all. This week alone, she has had “boo boo elbows,” “boo boo fingers,” “boo boo feet,” and “boo boo hair!” The miracle cure for all of these – a simple kiss.

I am sure I did it with my older boys, and it was probably second nature to say, “Let me kiss it and make it better.” I’ve kissed a lot of “boo boo elbows” in my time as a dad, and I am sure there are more boo boos to come. I am always amazed at how kissing a boo boo can stop the tears.

“All better!” Ella will say that after I have kissed the “boo boo of the hour” and run off to continue playing. The boo boos seem to be coming more and more frequently, and that is ok. It is one of those very special moments that I love sharing with her – and I kinda feel like her hero afterwards.

I am sure my dad and mom kissed my boo boos, too, but I don’t recall many of those instances. What I do remember is how my grandma would “fix” them. My grandma was Catholic. I remember one time I fell and conked my head pretty good. I had a huge bump on my forehead. Grandma’s remedy was a butter knife!

My grandma took that butter knife and pressed on the bump with it horizontally and then vertically, making a cross. To her, she was making the “sign of the cross,” on it, which in turn healed it. All I really remember it doing was making it hurt more until she removed the knife. There may have been a time where my grandpa did this, too.

As silly as it sounds, I love the fact that kissing a boo boo makes everything right! A “Boo Boo Kiss” is truly a miracle cure! Wouldn’t it be amazing if all it took to make the chaos of the world better was a simple boo boo kiss?