Wow!

“We’ll leave the light on for you” says comedian Tom Bodett at the end of his radio commercials for “Motel 6.” Mr. Bodett has written a book in which he recalls this prediction made to him before his son was born:

YOU ARE GOING TO LEARN THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS FROM YOUR CHILDREN.

He says he really didn’t believe it until his baby had reached the ripe old age of twenty months. At that point there were only a few words in the child’s vocabulary — words like “more,” “hello,” “bye bye,” “Momma” and “Daddy.” But, by far, his most distinguished and seldom used expression was “Wow!” Mr. Bodett explains:

He only says “Wow!” when something really impresses him. If Dad lets a frying pan catch on fire, for example, If we hit the ditch on the way to town. If the house were to burn down around him, I’m confident he would sum it all up with “Wow!”

Then, one…