Peter Pesic’s “Understanding Understanding”

What does it mean to understand something, especially something one finds really hard  to understand? I take it that “understanding” must necessarily fall far short of “complete understanding,” which seems superhuman. More modestly, what does it mean to make a first, small step toward understanding anything? In the process of trying to take such a small step towards understanding understanding itself, please bear with me as I weave together many different stories, for story itself will turn out to be crucial.