"My favorite color was green, but I think it's really pink," he announced, "but don't tell the boys, because they'll laugh at me. Pink is a girl color."

After a moment of reflection, he mused, "No, it's okay. Natalie will protect me. She always says, 'That doesn't matter, that doesn't matter.'"

I thought to myself, we'd better write down the full name and address of this girl Elliot has mentioned from time to time - for here was a woman worth looking up later. At age 5, she had already learned what what I suspect the majority of adults don't know: which things don't matter.

Recently, I was helping Elliot make Valentines for his class. In his Kindergarten, each child was given a printed list of names to cut apart and paste on the cards, since many could not write beyond signing their own name. Elliot was one of these, and in fact, was not all that proficient at doing his name.

Yet, I noticed that one of his cards had a little more on it. In a move had no doubt taken great research and effort on his part, he had scrawled in barely-legible letters on one, "I LOVE YOU". He said it was for Natalie, of course.

22-FEB-1999.