Let’s take a moment to talk about the sex talk that was a rite of passage for so many of us. I’ll go first. Here is what I remember from my youth: my mom dropped some 1950’s-era pamphlets on my bed. She suggested I read them. She added: feel free to ask questions. End of talk. I did also receive school-based sex education at Creek Valley Elementary School, but it was not much better, delivered by a very young female teacher who gave the classic, cliched and very incomplete play-by-play. As lame as those sex talks were and still often are, at least there is a cultural tradition of actually having a formal discussion with our kids.

Now, stay with me, because this mildly comic opening is going to transition to a big life lesson. And as with all life lessons, it has the thrilling potential to change the trajectory of all who encounter it. Though, of course, no promises.