the most startling awareness

of time's passing greets you when you watch a younger relative grow up.

I remember holding my baby cousin the day he was born, marveling that nine months prior, this red, turnip-like creature was just a speck floating in an ocean of amniotic fluid. And now, he's ten going on eleven (what?!). Sure, he's still sweet and adorable, but he's about to enter middle school, the place where innocence goes to die. Soon he's going to start noticing girls, and his mind will be corrupted with perverted thoughts, and he'll become an awkward, pimply product of puberty. The whole idea makes me a bit sad. I kind of wish we could genetically engineer kids to always be kids. Issues of ethicality? Overrated...

But then again, I can imagine the knowledge and wisdom he'll take from his experiences in the coming years and the beautiful, wonderful person he will become. Still, it must be pretty bittersweet for parents when their kids leave the last vestiges of childhood behind.

A few random thoughts:
1. I am SO glad I wasn't in high school when the whole Twilight craze started. I don't normally have trouble with anger management, but at some point I think I would have snapped and started punching those starry-eyed, salivating, fourteen-year-old girls in the face.
2. A question from my MCAT biology book:

Toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite that establishes a wildlife reservoir and infects humans residing in major US cities. Which of the following animals most likely serves as a toxoplasmosis wildlife reservoir?
A. elephants
B. cats
C. snakes
D. trees

I hope a I get a question like that on my actual exam! Prerequisite for med students: the ability to distinguish between animals and plants...