Bilbo, a hobbit out of place

One of those things I never really noticed or thought about when I was younger, no matter how many times I read The Lord of the Rings, was how out of place Bilbo is when the story begins, much less later on.

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It makes me think of my own grandfather in his waning years, when he finally wanted to talk about the things he saw and did before he went away, and I get a lump in my throat. And I see just how important Frodo must have been to Bilbo, as one of the few people willing to listen to and believe an old hobbit that became so foreign in his own hometown.