There are unexpected pleasures to being a ski instructor.
Yesterday afternoon, I got put on lesson support, which means riding the chairlift with little kids to help their coaches get their classes to the top of the hill--for reasons that should be obvious, we don't let the little ones ride the chairlift without adult supervision.
My first ride up of the afternoon was with a little girl. The very first words she said to me, without any prompting whatsoever, were, "I'm four."
"Oh yeah?" I said. "When did you turn four?"
"Well," she said, "It's kind of a long story."