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I was born on the break of the centuries, the 22nd and 23rd centuries. I grew up in the suburbs. Life has gotten a little bit slower since then. The cities became so big that almost everyone lived in them. It was a quiet start to my life, completely oblivious to the political state my country was in.
I was really lucky that I grew up in a somewhat affluent household. It was a simple childhood. I would flip through dinosaur encyclopedia, play football with my peers in recess, you know the typical stuff. At the time I wasn't aware of the fact that people play that game for over 2 centuries. It isn't as popular now, but there used to be national tournaments when I was younger.
"Hello, grandpa" shouted my grandson as he ran and launched himself into my arms.
-After lunch-
"Wow that was delicious!" exclaims my daughter in law as we're sitting around the coffee table. "Does anyone want something to drink?" asks my lovely wife Melinda. "Me, me, I want orange juice!" my grandson excitedly shouts and jumps up on the couch. "Honey, you know how to ask a little bit more polite, right?" gently chastices him my doughter in law Demeter, "so let's be polite to your granny, okay." He sits down, looks at Melinda, and this time says a little bit more quietly: "Can I have orange juice, please?" "Of course you can, " she sweetly replies. And then she promptly asks: "What would the rest of you like?"
"Grandpa, what are the isotopes?" curiously asked my grandson. "Well you are only in the first grade so you might not quite understand but what the hell." I paused to collect my thoughts and then I continued: " So you see everything that exists is made of small particles called atoms which connect thanks to magnetic force. Do you understand?" I asked him at the end because he hasn't learnt any chemistry yet. And I don't know too much about what they do in school nowadays." I do, but I don't. " he replied absentmindedly." Alright so let me start again. Everything is made of small particles, something like tiny beads you can't see that are stitched together." I paused and we shared a look, he nodded his head. Good he understood me. "The beads are called atoms and they have all different sizes. We made a table where we put the types atoms from the smallest to the biggest one. Makes sense?" I paused and asked him. He nodded and exclaimed: "Yes! Yes, I understand. Grandpa continue."
I smiled and followed: "So in the world there are many more materials than the types of atoms. So in order to have that many, different types of atoms combine to create new materials based on many complicated rules. And when the atoms combine they are called molecules. It's like when you use different colored and sized beads to create certain patterns like flowers for example."
"Wow grandpa, that's so cool and you're so smart. Where did you learn all of that?" he's so curious that little bean. "Well I went to a university and learn so much more than just that. You will learn more about chemistry in middle school. Are you excited for that?" I asked him with a small smile. "I will learn that as well? I can't wait for that. I wanna know as much as you grandpa! No, I wanna know even more that grandpa!" and with that he jumped off of my lap and ran to his mum. I think he's going to become a great scientist one day.