I have a little theory that we are all constantly concerned about the existence of about a hundred people in the world at any given moment. Half of them tend to be people we don't know, like movie stars and politicians and the people our friends tell us about who we never meet, like who they're dating for ten minutes or whatever. Then there's a few slots for the people right around you, a limited supply, for friends and the family you see all the time.
- David Amsden, Important Things That Don't Matter
Today my new job at the day care started. I spent the first part of it playing Monopoly with two second-grade girls. Then I played ping-pong with a couple of third grade boys, and had the following edifying conversations:
RYAN: How old are you?
ME: I'm 26.
RYAN: My cousin's 24. Do you know him?
RYAN: I'm the smallest kid in third grade.
ME: You are pretty small for a third-grader. How does that make you feel?
RYAN: Small.