It’s a short period, you know, when the idea of sleeping on a pull-out coach in a hotel room is actually thrilling to them. It’s a short period when they get excited about going for a drive or going through a car wash. It’s a brief window when they want to play catch in the back yard or want you to tell them a story before bed. It’s not long that a $1 popsicle serves as motivation.

“Out, out, brief candle”—these childhood infatuations and passions do not last. They grow out of them. They stop working on them. They get too cool for them.

We are in a losing battle with cynicism and experience. We can only hold out for so long.

Enjoy it while you have it. Let that joy be infectious. Blow their minds while you can. Take the trips while you can. Appreciate the leverage while you have it. Because you’re losing a little bit of it everyday.

These moments don’t announce when they’re over. There’s no final exciting car wash. No bedtime story you recognize as the last.

They just slip away. So catch them while you can.