To Infinity and Beyond

This morning, I was pondering the fact that every child is unique.  My father used to say that the trouble with parenting is that you are always an amateur.  Each child presents unique challenges, as well as times of joy and pride.  As I followed this rabbit trail in my mind, I ended up smiling over the following story.

One night when my son was about six years old, he called out to me shortly after he had gone to bed.

“Mom, would you come and lay down with me for a few minutes?”

As I laid down, I could feel the tension…the agitation…in his body.

He immediately began to talk.  “Now, Mom, I know that a thousand has three zeroes, a million has six, and a billion has nine, but what comes after that?”

“A trillion has twelve,” I replied.

“But, Mom, what comes after that?”

“A quadrillion has fifteen.”

“But, Mom, what comes after that?”

Ah, I thought…this poor child has figured out that no matter how big the number, you can always add another zero.  Numbers go on infinitely, but how could one possibly learn an infinite number of words to describe them?

I said, “Oh, sweetheart, please don’t worry about this.  There is something called the powers of ten that makes this easy.  Ten has one zero, so it is the first power of ten or we can say ‘ten to the first.’  One hundred has two zeroes, so that is ten to the second.  One thousand has three zeroes, so….”

He interrupted me, “And so on?”

“Yes, and so on.”

He sighed with relief, “Oh, thank you!”

I could feel his body relaxing as we lay there side by side.  Within sixty seconds, the deep breathing of sleep began.

I stayed there for a few minutes, smiling up at the ceiling, and thinking about what had just happened.

How does a child that age even think of such a thing?  What other concepts is he exploring?  

Twenty-five years have passed.  The child is now a senior software engineer at a major tech firm.  The project he works on is used by over a billion….yes, that is nine zeroes….people.  Sometimes he talks to me excitedly about what he is currently doing, and I am the one struggling.

“Oh….I wish I understood this well enough to just ask one intelligent question!”

Compared to my mind, his has gone to infinity and beyond.  Isn’t that what we hope for as parents?  That our children will surpass us?  That they will travel new roads….paths we may have never even imagined?