Tim Urban

The first day I was in second grade, I came to school and noticed that there was a new, very pretty girl in the class—someone who hadn’t been there the previous two years. Her name was Alana and within an hour, she was everything to me.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared on Wait But Why.

I have one living grandparent—my father’s mother, who’s 89: Nana

This post originally appeared on Wait But Why.

This post originally appeared on Wait But Why.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared on Wait But Why. 

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared on Wait But Why. 

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com. It is part of a two-part series. See the first part here.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.

This post originally appeared at WaitButWhy.com.