THESE TIMES

Oliver Svenningson is 8 years old. He’s the son of friends of ours, friends who used to be neighbor-friends, but they lost neighbor status when mother, father and Oliver moved to Germany in summer 2021 for a job. I told the father, Brad, a couple of years ago that he should be saving Oliver’s observations because Oliver makes comments worth remembering. Here are some Brad has sent me:

October 2020: Oliver saw a woman and man working on their roof, and dad explained what was going on. Oliver’s response: “I don’t want to be a roofer when I grow up. When I get married, I want to marry someone who...