Fellow Explorers

It was her question while driving down El Camino Real that threw me off guard. “Why are the fire hydrants different colors?”

A deep red in Palo Alto. Chrome yellow in Los Altos. Shiny silver in Mountain View.

I’d noticed it before—but, unlike my 10-year-old, never thought to ask why.

I admitted to not knowing why (relinquishing my role as the “know-it-all”) and offered to look it up with her. I am not her personal Google search engine but I sure can be her companion in curiosity. 

The most meaningful gift we offer our kids isn’t certainty. It’s the willingness to wonder. To walk beside them, not as experts—but as fellow explorers.