As I was reading this, I realized that this exact thing happened to me yesterday. I was at a park with my nine-year-old and a mom known to me from my son’s school was near me with her four-year-old. He kept chattering in that way that little ones do — fully animated and only pronouncing half of the words correctly. I watched him and looked at her and said, “This was always my favorite age.” And then we nodded in that knowing way. It was like I was seeing my son all over again.

Great piece.