Sweet Tears on a Freckled Face

Yesterday morning, my younger son Jacob was sitting at the table in our camper eating his cereal. He was playing his handheld video game and not paying attention to the morning show I was watching. Just then, a commercial for the ASPCA (animal protection group) came on featuring photos of neglected animals.

I saw him glance up then back down then he looked up again and the saddest look came over his little six-year-old face. He looked up at me and whispered "sad animals" and started blinking away tears. My sweet boy has always had a heart for animals but I didn't know the depths of his sensitivity until I saw him visibly moved by the sight of those images.

I couldn't help but hug him and comfort him as alligator tears slipped down across his soft freckled cheeks. My heart warmed at the sight of his compassion for animals. He's always been amazing with our own pets but I realized it ran deeper than that. As the commercial went off I reassured him that those animals were being taken care of and he smiled and, obviously trying to compose himself, said "ok Mommy" and tried to smile.

Ah the heart of my sweet sweet boy.