Kids

I like spending time with kids.

If you let them, they will get as close to your face as possible. They study the way your face looks, the way your eyes move, they even look at your teeth.

Yet, my face, under all the scrutiny of a child's eyes is never judged. It might be questioned, and mine certainly has been questioned. On more than one occasion, a little friend of mine has asked me about my nose ring. She questions it, always while she is only inches away from my face, and usually tracing my nose and its ring with her finger.

The first time she asked I explained to her it was a piece of jewelry, like she might wear a necklace, or someone else might wear earrings. Even at her young age, she wants to know how it got there, and why it's there, and if it is always going to be there.

By now she knows the answers to these questions, but she still gets in my face looking at it again to make sure nothing has changed. And she asks the questions again.

Maybe by this time, it becomes a game that we play. I hope it doesn't stop for a long while. Because I like the closeness of a child's face. I like to be studied, I like to not be judged.