Things are Not So Linear with Matthew Cordell

Matthew Cordell, author and illustrator of 102 (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), joins Matthew to talk about the power of curiosity and always wanting to see new things.

Listen along:

About the book: 102 by Matthew Cordell. Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

From Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell comes a cozy, magical nighttime adventure, where a child discovers the mysterious, miniature world beyond his bedroom walls. ​

Sent home from school earlier in the day with a fever, George awakens in the middle of the night to discover a cricket beckoning him on an adventure and soon finds himself shrunken down in size. He follows the insect guide through a crack in his bedroom wall, through the moonlit yard, and into the home of a family of mice at the base of an oak tree. There, in a tiny, cozy kitchen, George discovers the meaning of his quest: he must help the Mama mouse complete her special 102-bean soup for her sick young son.

Delightfully sweet as it is fantastic, 102 seamlessly explores the values of curiosity, kindness, and generosity. The simple yet profound conclusion shares a clever wink with readers, encouraging them to believe the unbelievable.

More:

Visit Matthew Cordell online at www.matthewcordell.com 

Learn more about Boyds Mills and their upcoming programs by visiting www.boydsmills.org.

Transcript:

NOTE: Transcript created by Descript. I've attempted to clean up any typos, grammatical errors, and formatting errors where possible.

Matt C:   Because kids are just, are so inquisitive, they're so curious. They, they wanna know what's next, you know? But I thought it would be fun to have a story where there's this kind of very surreal, strange thing that happens and instead of just leaving it in this ambiguous way.

Just definitively say to the audience this really happened.

Matthew: That is the voice of Matthew Cordell, author and illustrator of numerous picture books including To See An Owl, Hello, Neighbor! The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers, Cornbread & Poppy, and Wish, and winner of the 2018 Caldecott Medal for Wolf in the Snow. Matthew’s newest book is the altogether mesmerizing 102 (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers).

Welcome back to the Children’s Book Podcast, where we celebrate the books and creators who help young readers feel seen, supported, and understood. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Boyds Mills, positively impacting kids by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inspire children to become their best selves.

I’m your host, Matthew Winner—teacher, librarian, writer, and a fan of kids.

Matt is a friend of the show going way, way back. But he’s also something more than that. I’ve watched Matt’s voice as an illustrator and storyteller grow and change throughout the life of this podcast, catching up with him for various books and always learning something new each time we connect. 

Here are a few of the things I learned in this conversation: 

NUMBER ONE: The power of curiosity. Matt is, in many ways, compelled by curiosity. All of those “What if?”s add up in magical ways in 102 and make it something wholly different from his other works.

NUMBER TWO: Matt doesn’t just want to keep making the same kind of book. This self-awareness compels his artistic voice in new and different directions, like illustrating an entire book in multicolor pen.

And NUMBER THREE: He is at a point in time where exploring the topsy turvy and surreal is delighting his creative brain. This made me think about the value of staying creatively loose enough to allow improvisation to occur in our processes. 

So, a little about 102 (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) from the publisher:

“From Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell comes a cozy, magical nighttime adventure, where a child discovers the mysterious, miniature world beyond his bedroom walls. ​

Sent home from school earlier in the day with a fever, George awakens in the middle of the night to discover a cricket beckoning him on an adventure and soon finds himself shrunken down in size. He follows the insect guide through a crack in his bedroom wall, through the moonlit yard, and into the home of a family of mice at the base of an oak tree. There, in a tiny, cozy kitchen, George discovers the meaning of his quest: he must help the Mama mouse complete her special 102-bean soup for her sick young son.

Delightfully sweet as it is fantastic, 102 seamlessly explores the values of curiosity, kindness, and generosity. The simple yet profound conclusion shares a clever wink with readers, encouraging them to believe the unbelievable.”

Open up your intake and be ready to see things a different way!

Please welcome Matthew Cordell to the podcast.

Matt C: Okay. My hi, my name's Matthew Cordell. I'm the author and illustrator of many books, and today we're gonna be talking about my newest books called 1 0 2.

Matthew: Glad you're here, Matthew. It's been a while. And, I feel like this is one of those right books for us to connect again. I always tend to feel like with any guest on this show, the universe is pushing us together at the right time. I try to listen to that and this felt like one of those times. So welcome back.

Matt C: Yeah. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to reconnect. 

Matthew: Yeah. Let 

Matt C: me ask and we see each other from time to time at different places, conferences and whatnot. Yeah, but it's been a while since we have. Sat down on podcast together, so this is fun. Yeah, 

Matthew: I've made a new habit out of asking folks what's giving [00:01:00] them hope today as I'm meeting them.

I'd love to ask you that too, Matthew, what's giving you hope today? 

Matt C: That's a good question. 'cause it is a kind of, it's a tough time for a lot of us, a lot of people in different ways really. But I think, you know, in what, in the way in the, in the, the work that I do. My audience and even my family really watching my kids grow up.

I what gives me hope is being around. A younger generation, you know, I, it, it inspires me so much to go into a school and not just to meet and speak with the kids who are just bursting with creativity and promise and curiosity, but also the educators who are there to support that and to cultivate it and and help it to grow and, and, and only become better.

And, schools to me, are sort of the perfect microcosm of the way we should all work. You know, it's kinda like everybody's there not to, [00:02:00] not just to better themselves, but to better everyone in that environment. And every time I go into a school and leave that day, at the end of the day, it, it's, it gives me so much hope because when I'm, when I'm amongst, even by myself, you know, I work a lot in solitude, but if I'm amongst my fellow, my contemporaries, my fellow adults it's hard not to get pulled down into negativity. And on social media, it's like there's so much gloom and doom and, and that, that it's not unwarranted by any means. But I feel like, there's so much more happening in the world than that. And sometimes we lose sight of that. And, and it always kind of, kind of shakes me by the shoulders and wakes me up when I go into a school and I'm like, wow, this is happening every day. You know? And this is a, this is, this is a positive force, you know, and this isn't going away.

No matter how. You know, the voices in my head, the conspiracy [00:03:00] theories and all that stuff are saying it, you know, it may not go on eternally, but I feel like you know, schools are just amazing places and, and the kids in them and the educators and, and the support staff everyone in the school system, it's just, it's amazing, you know.

So much of our world, our, our contemporary adult world is about, is about getting bigger and better and richer and more powerful. And, and schools are very not. It's just the goodness of humanity. You know, it's not about trying to, you know, stuff your pockets and like do everything for yourself. It's a, like I said, it's, it's just a perfect working community, and so it gives me hope to be inside a school.

Matthew: It feels that way too as a teacher. It feels 

Matt C: that way. Yeah. I mean, I, I can imagine, [00:04:00] truthfully, you know, it. Being in it, being a teacher, see, you know, having the challenges that you have every day, not just from the outside world, but within, within a school. I mean, it's not, it's a freaking hard job. 

Matthew: It's, 

Matt C: I mean, it's insane.

That's one of the other things I see is how difficult it is. Even when I go into my, my kids' conferences at their schools. And the teachers are giving these really elaborate presentations and I'm just getting lost. And I'm like, how the, they do this every day. So I know I don't expect you to have the same reaction that I have 'cause you're seeing it from a very different perspective.

So maybe something else gives you hope in different ways. I mean, I, I, I assume it's not possible, I think, to not to work in a school and not feel some sense of hope, but. I can, I can say, I can see how it could be and should be and, and is, I'm sure a difficult place to be. But just [00:05:00] from being somebody that doesn't exist in that world and who can go into it and come out of it from time to time, sort of dip my brain into it.

As gross as that sounds I just feel so much so. I feel so much better when I leave a school 'cause I feel like things are happening there that I just don't, I kind of forget are happening. You know? I kind of forget that that exists. So it makes me feel better about about people and about the future.

Matthew: I think it feels good knowing how hard it is to be in the school and that for me, it's been 20 years, 20 years in school. Yeah. 

Matt C: It's amazing. 

Matthew: Congratulations that thanks. But to know that when folks like you visit. It means a lot, I think to us to hear that, that you feel that you're leaving feeling that way because we do get ensconced with what's going on politically and how that affects teaching, how that affects our access to resources and how it affects our [00:06:00] paychecks, how it affects the, what staffing and what resources we have at our school, but.

Those kids keep coming every day and that mm-hmm. I think for me is one of the things that keeps my feet on the ground is just knowing they're gonna keep coming every day. Yeah. And we get the privilege of, of teaching them, of working with them, of building relationships. It's really great. Mm-hmm. I'm glad we get to be good.

We get to share that with you. I'm glad authors visit schools, illustrators visit schools and get you. I get to be welcomed into our space. 'cause it's, it's a really great space to be in. 

Matt C: Sure. Is. Yeah. 

Matthew: So Matthew, you have a new book coming out 1 0 2. I would love for you, if you don't mind, to share a book, talk of this book if you, if you can for any of us that haven't had the chance to encounter it yet.

Matt C: So this is actually the first time. Well, not the first time, but one of the first times I've, I've been asked to talk about it, so I'm, I feel like I'm still kind of figuring [00:07:00] it out myself. Sure. But books can be really not so linear the way they come together. And this was one of those, one of those projects I've had books where I've, a story just kind of evolves pretty quickly, either in my head or on.

On my keyboard. And it comes together pretty quickly and the images are there, but this one was like it's kind of a long evolution. But the story is it's about a little boy. His name's George. And and he comes home early from school because he has a fever of 101 Fahrenheit or any any.

Outside of American listeners. But he's sick. And so he he, he's in the kitchen with his mom and they're just sort of navigating the end of the day. And, and a mouse runs across the kitchen floor and they catch the mouse. And and George's mom wants to get rid of [00:08:00] the mouse, but George wants to save it, keep it, so he goes to bed that night, and as he's going to bed, his fever goes up to 102. And and then things get weird, you know the books kind of take, it takes a lot of different turns and it takes a lot of turns. But the number 102 or 1 0 2 or, or that number pops up. Many times, which sort of brings you back to that, to that central thread, I think.

And so he wakes up at 1 0 2 in the morning and he has this little, he has a cricket on his chest that wakes him up by chirping. And he shrinks down to the size of a, about a little bigger than the cricket and the cricket. George are talking at that point, and they, the cricket tells George he needs him for something important.

So they go away, they go outside, they go through the walls of the house, [00:09:00] and George finds out, I, I won't tell the whole story. I've, I'm already saying, talking so long about, barely described anything. But he, he and the cricket go outside and George finds out that there's someone that he has to help.

In order to save someone else. So the story is this sort of topsy-turvy, strange surreal adventure and takes you in a lot of places, hopefully surprises you in a lot of ways. And and then when you get back you wonder like. Because, you know, is it a lot of times in books or movies, fiction of all different sorts at the end when it's really strange like this a lot of us wonder was it real, you know, was that, was it, was that like just a fever dream?

Was that, did, did these things really happen to this boy? And usually you don't, you don't [00:10:00] always, you don't always know, you know. I've written books myself where it's an open end like that. And kids is, they have such a hard time with that. You know, they ask you, they'll ask you point blank, you know, what, what did that, was that real?

Were they imagining this story? And so I've, I've, I've written stories like that. I've, I've seen them play out. I've seen kids, and heard kids confront me about it. So in this story, I actually answer that at the end of the book. I tell kids, you know, point blank. I won't say right now if it's 

Matthew: no, 

but at the end of this book, there's an answer and I, I almost, I almost think I haven't read it yet.

Matt C: I, I have his book's not out just yet, but. I still think, even though I say definitively at the end of the book, I still think kids are gonna ask me. Yeah, but was it real? 

Matthew: It's real. Yeah. 

Matt C: Because kids are just, are so inquisitive, they're so curious. They, they wanna know what's next, you know? But I [00:11:00] thought it would be fun to, to have a story where there's this kind of very surreal, strange thing that happens and instead of just leaving it in this ambiguous way.

Just definitively say to the audience this really happened. 

Matthew: Yeah. 

Matt C: And and then see what happens. You know, I wanna see what happens. 

Matthew: There's a lot in this story that reminds me of Maurice Sandeck, where the wild things are that maybe reminds me of Alice in the looking glass. Louis Carroll, our hungry, Jim Laurel Snyder.

That feels. That feels, you said like a fever dream. I feel like that where, what? Yeah. Wait, is this real? Is this really happening? And yet we do make it home. And dinner still warm. And as you say though, in the end you as, as the storyteller, tell us your definitive what what's what you had mentioned writing stories sort of like this before.

What does that look like for you, Matthew? Do you, are you. Coming up with [00:12:00] lots of story ideas all the time. I know we, stories are all around us, right? We, we, we come up with story ideas all the time, but but to stay loose enough, to keep it sort of open-ended, magical, fantastical is, is a choice. Is that what this story started as for you?

I'd love to hear kind of the origin of it. 

Matt C: Yeah, I think, I feel like as I've gotten older I've tried to open up my. My sort of intake I feel like for a certain part of one's creative existence, they feel like, oh, I need to establish myself. I need to establish myself as someone who creates a, something in a certain way.

Matthew: Hmm. 

Matt C: So that it's recognizable as soon as you look at a book cover or whatever. And I've, I, I was sort of operating under that, that mode of, of creation, you know, for, for years. And as I've gotten older, I've just sort of, sort of thrown it out the window, [00:13:00] you know, not, not completely, but I, I just, I just feel like the world is such an, is such a complex, massive place that provides so much inspiration from so many different directions that I don't wanna just.

Make the same kind of book with the same kind of pictures and the same kind of story and the same kind of characters. I just, how, how, how, I just can't be satisfied that with that anymore. So I, the thing that moves me from my core is, is imperfection, imperfect stories, imperfect artwork, imperfect drawings, imperfect text things that are unusual.

So that is sort of what drives me from the beginning on any project. But yeah, I mean, I, I just want to be open and I want learn more. I want to, I want to try new things. I want to experiment and but I think the [00:14:00] consistent. Sort of the consistent force in anything that I do is a looseness spontaneity.

And that's sort of the continuous thread and, and I, in what I feel like I've done since I was probably in my twenties. And just finding myself as a, as a, as an artist, as a, as a, as a person who makes things, I respond more, I'm more inspired by creators and art. Whatever the art may be that is unexpected is kind of, is kind of a tough, it's tough to look at sometimes, you know?

Mm-hmm. Sometimes I, I would even describe it as a ugly, you know? 'cause when you see it, when you see something new, you have this sort of visceral reaction to it. Where you're like, is this good? You know, I don't, I'm, this isn't something I've seen before, so I don't know if I like this or not, you know?

And, and that's an exciting place to be. I feel like as a, as a, [00:15:00] as a person who's viewing something for the first time, and as somebody who's creating that thing for the first time it's an exciting place to look at something and have not seen that before. Because you're, you, you're, you have to, you have to make a decision.

You have to, you have to evolve your thinking and think like, is this, do I like this? I'm not sure. You know? You might walk away and decide you don't like it, but you might walk away and not like it and then keep thinking about it, and then you're like. I can't stop thinking about this. And you look at it some more and more and you're like, this is really fascinating.

You know, that's happened to me. I mean, hopefully that's happened to other people as often as it's happened to me. But that's the, that's what excites me. So I'm always kind of like, I'm not always, but in recent years, I feel like I've tried to. Experiment with different drawing tools, with different types of stories.

Matthew: It was a multicolored pen on this one, right? 

Matt C: Yeah. Yeah. I, I [00:16:00] just, you know, I love art supplies but I'm not like a snob about it. You know? I, like, I, I will buy stuff at the grocery store. I will buy stuff at 

Matthew: that's cool. 

Matt C: At, you know, the, the. You ever 

Matthew: buy anything at the book fair? We just had our book 

Matt C: fair.

Oh yeah. There's like fun pens 

Matthew: at the book. Fair. 

Matt C: I bought a pen at my, at a, at a school, a school store the other day. Did you? Yeah. I, I, art can, I don't know, I just, I, I, I just try to keep my eyes open. My, my mind opened too, like, yeah. I mean, and I, and sometimes I will go back to these, these sort of primitive tools, you know I, I, I'll take a, a drawing a, a pen or a pencil that's, that's marketed towards kids and, and try to make something start drawing with it like you would expect, but then sort of evolves into something else.

Matthew: Yeah. 

Matt C: So yeah, the, I drew the 1 0 2 I drew with [00:17:00] I had these. I think I've given these pins to my kids. They're like those multiple color ballpoint pins, the different 

Matthew: clicks all around them. 

Matt C: Yeah. I actually have one right here. Yeah. Where you can click an individual color. And then draw or write, probably mostly for writing.

I don't know, like if these are really marketed as art pins, drawing pins, but you, you can draw with all these different colors. The fun thing about this particular brand that goes beyond that is the inks are scented. So if you draw a big surface of light blue, for instance. You'll be treated to the scent of cotton candy.

Matthew: Your original artwork smells. That's cool. 

Matt C: It smells briefly. The, the smell doesn't blast past like a, a day or so, but but as 

Matthew: you're making it, you smell it? 

Matt C: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And so the, all the, this particular pin, the colors are, I think it's called, it's called a sugar rush, is the name of the company that makes this.

And and [00:18:00] all the colors each, each different color is like a, a different kind of candy smell or fruit smell or something like that. 

Matthew: It's like the Mr. Sketch markers. Yeah. 

Matt C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's 

Matthew: fun. 

Matt C: And but anyway, you know, I, I just, I, I don't always want to, when I finish a book, I don't always wanna make this, the next book.

I don't wanna just make it a continuation of what I just finished, you know? Of course. And, and, and in the time that you make a book, even or me and anyone really, you are, you are seeing other things in the world. You're, you're being influenced in other ways. You're seeing art from other, from different artists.

You're seeing movies, you're listening to music. All of these things are, are sort of like layering into your subconscious and, i'm a changed person by then, so why would I just pick up and do the same thing? That's right. And I've resisted that impulse. I have, you know, I have resisted the, the impulse to change my art for years.

But you 

Matthew: think [00:19:00] 

Matt C: just getting older, 

Matthew: don't you? 

Matt C: Just at a point, I feel like the people that I work with, the, the editors, the art directors, they're very, perceptive to new ideas. I think I, it, it, it's like as a creator who's, who's reached a certain level of, in their career. You, you, you feel like there's these self-imposed pressures we one might put on themselves where it's like, I need to just do what people want me to do or, okay.

I, I, I need to do what is expected of me. Whether that be for your audience or for your, the publisher you're working with, or or yourself, you know, you feel like, i, I'm like this thing, I'm like a package, you know? And I need to continue presenting the same, the same, in the same way. But like I said, I mean, I, I, I'm also, you know, most of us maybe, hopefully are curious people.

So I'm always looking, I'm always, I always wanna see new things. I always wanna see new movies. I always wanna see read new books. I always want [00:20:00] to, look at different types of art. I always want to hear new music. And so these things are, they're changing you in small ways. So as an artist, it's difficult.

It's almost like you're, you're you, you have to. Train yourself not to allow yourself to be changed in the way that you express yourself. So in recent years, I feel like I've, I've been really searching for different ways to draw and create things and, and tell different types of stories. 1 0 2 is a very different kind of story.

In recent years, I've been drawn to, I have been drawn to adventure stories. I, before that. Like many other creators, I was sort of compelled to tell more sort of like thoughtful meaningful, almost like morally driven stories. Because [00:21:00] we. We have been going through a period where you feel like you want to kind of course correct.

We still are in that timeline, you know we want to share the power of empathy. We wanna share inclusivity compassion. We wanna talk about those things because we feel like there's a void of that in our culture. And so I was making some books like that and I felt like I got that outta my system, and I also felt like.

There's a lot of people doing that. So why do I also not, why do I have to, but I didn't feel like I needed to continue with that. So I started thinking like, well, kids and me, you know, we, we don't just want that. We don't, we, it's great to have that, but we want to. It's also [00:22:00] important to be taken away from that from time to time by, by a mystery or by an adventure or by something that is exciting in a different way.

So I, I, I was drawn more to these sort of longer adventure tales. These sort of my last. One of my last books, evergreen was sort of in that same vein, whereas like this longer, longer form, longer text, longer formatted picture book. Which is also kind of unusual in today's picture book world to have a, a picture book with a more text in it.

But again, just wanting to put myself in a different place as a creator, make something different, kind of like. Try something new. And and I found in that time that those, that sort of, that prevention mode of like not doing something different, feeling like I couldn't, [00:23:00] it was just self-imposed. All I had to do was try some stuff and then share it with my editor and say like, what do you think of this?

It's different, but do you like it? And. You know, there's always a chance they might not like it. But in my experience, I've, I'm glad to say that, that that became a new journey for me. Sharing, trying something new, sharing it with the person that you're gonna be collaborating with, and them liking it too.

And then being able to just carry, carry that through and finish it and work on something new. It's a very refreshing. It's a very refreshing place to be. So that's where I've been the last few years. I think, you know, like probably even since the last time we've talked, I mean, I feel like I, I've, I mean, that was, we probably talked in the pandemic years.

Matthew: We talked. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you when we talked. [00:24:00] I'm gonna tell you a brief connection and then I'm gonna wrap our time together. 'cause time has flown, it always flies with you. But we last talked for your biography of Fred Rogers. Yeah. And I can't stop thinking about how when we talked on that conversation we were talking about the number 1 43.

Matt C: Yeah. Right. 

Matthew: And seeing a number everywhere. So I was coming into this conversation going. Writing a story about seeing a number everywhere. Oh, I love that is sort of resonating in me. That didn't 

Matt C: even occur to me until 

Matthew: just now, but in another, just kind of beautiful ripple. We don't know. You were talking about walking through the world and just sort of living life and being moved by the things you see, the new movies you see, the new music you listen to.

And we don't know how those ripples Yeah. Will play out through our art, through our expression, through our teaching. But they do because they become part of us and so naturally it becomes [00:25:00] part of our expression, which means we continue to grow and to change and we're not the same people we were before we experienced those things.

So it's just That's lovely. That's when we last talked 2020 way back then. Then. I 

Matt C: love that you brought that, you mentioned that. 'cause I, I mean honestly it, it must have some sort of. Trail in my subconscious that Fred Rogers Yeah. Had an obsession with three digit number 100 something number and that, that, that probably has some place in this book, you know?

And I love that. I love that so much. I'm glad you, I'm glad it you pointed that out. 

Matthew: 1 43. I love you. Yep. 

Matt C: Yeah. 

Matthew: Love it. Anyway. To know that sometimes we're making art and don't even know why. But we just feel the compulsion tube. I also feel like connects with you saying sometimes you make something and it's kind of ugly, but you're kind of drawn to it and it's, it's interesting that being drawn to something is, is the interesting place to explore.

Not whether or not all of our [00:26:00] eyes will, will delight in it, but rather that we'll, we'll want to look, we'll want to be curious. We'll want to ask questions. That's a beautiful place to live, Matthew, and I'm glad that. I'm glad that I caught you today and caught you in this space of reflection because I, I think to me it's what makes 1 0 2 special and it doesn't surprise me then to catch you and to know that it's special because of where you are right now.

That's great. I look forward to the next time we chat, but for now, I want to give you a chance to really, to speak to my readers and to all readers. By asking you that I'll see a library full of children tomorrow morning. Is there a message I can bring to them from you? 

Matt C: So I'm gonna just sort of dovetail on what we've been talking about the whole time and I, I feel like I've sort of been think, I, I, I've been thinking a lot lately about the power of, of curiosity being curious.

It, it, it's [00:27:00] such a simple. Concept a con, a simple idea, you know, curiosity, being curious. It just, it just feels so like overly simplistic in a way. But it's so powerful, the power of curiosity. And I think about that as an adult a lot, and especially in recent years. And I feel like. One of the most incredible things about children is their innate curiosity. They are they're sponges, you know, and they're willing sponges of the world around them.

They want to know because they start from ground zero. You know, we, we start from ground zero. We, we want to know, we need to know because. There's so much out there. At some point, at some sad point, as we grow up, we decide, we know, we know, I know I'm [00:28:00] done. You know, I don't need to be curious anymore because I know my, my opinions are set.

Everything that I need to know about the world is finished. And that Incurious adult is what? Is problematic about so many cultures. Thinking that you know all that you need to know, having no curiosity, having no want to learn anymore is, is what causes so many problems amongst our adult culture.

So I, I, I try to say this, sometimes I don't just sort of like shoehorn it into school visits or anything, but I try to say like, guys, kids you are incredible because you are so curious. You're such curious beings. You want to know all these things and it's so, it's so inspiring to be [00:29:00] around that.

And, and I just say, I want to encourage you to stay curious, and I want you to remember this as you get older, I want you to remember me saying this. I want you to stay curious.