When I was a kid, maybe 5th or 6th grade, my family was driving out in the country and came upon a burning farmer's field.

We stopped to help, and my older brother and I were charged with keeping an eye on the smoking remains of a field that had already burned out. The adults, and my younger siblings, went to fight the actual fire.

By the time it was all over, my brother and I were both feeling slighted and sidelined. But as we got back to the car, my mother, may she rest in peace, told us how much responsibility we had been given, to be set such an important job, with no adult supervision, the farmer must have thought we were older than we really are.

Two points, I suppose. First, one doesn't always appreciate one's salient qualities. Second, 45+ years later, that episode still stands out in my memory for how rewarding it felt.