My father liked to tell riddles. There was one that I remember him telling me and my sister when we were about 5 and 7 years old, respectively. I wasn’t really paying attention, but my sister was. He looked her right in the eye, and said, “If you are an eye-tee, you are e.” At least, that’s what it sounded like he was saying. My sister kept trying to figure out what “eye-tee” and “e” referred to. He was really only spelling out the word ‘furniture’, which I could pick up because I wasn’t looking at him directly and watching any of the funny faces he was making.
Context is interesting in that way. I’m hoping that life’s other riddles similarly become clearer when I avert my eyes and stop trying.