Five.
A letter to my 2-year-old son
Dear Elliot,
Today, as I did many other days, I asked you… “Elliot, do you know that Papa loves you?”
And you replied, as you always do… “Yes…”
And I followed, as I always do… “How much?”
And you raised your tiny hand up, fingers spread out, saying… “Five”.
This has been our ritual every since you learned to respond with words.
When you started, your answer was “Two”.
Then you learned the concept of greater numbers, and somehow conjured a “Five”.
Someday Elliot… someday… you will learn the limits of language and numbers.
And you will realise that “Five” is actually far greater than you know it to be.
And someday… I too will realise — the sheer insufficiency of language.
