A Road Less Travelled

Today is Thursday. You might have noticed. Thursday is Crystal’s grocery shopping day and so she spends most of the day out of the house. Hope goes with her because she goes most everywhere with Crystal and Arianna goes because she is a most helpful girl. That leaves me home with four boys all to myself for the bulk of the day.

There’s a different vibe around the house when I’m the only female home. Nothing I can quite put my finger on, but I am very aware of being outnumbered. And I think I kinda like it.

I’ve got no issue with little girls; I used to be one, you know. But there is something about young boys that’s fun. They’ve got an energy about them that can be infuriating and revitalizing at the same time. Our conversations go more towards superheroes, monsters and dirt. Not that they are simple; the boys are every bit as complex as their sisters are. If anything their egos are touchier. But they interact with me differently than Arianna and I think it’s simply because she’s a girl interacting with a woman and they are boys interacting with a woman.

So I’m looking back on my day spent outnumbered by boys and a thought wanders into my head. I could do this. I could be that mom with seven boys and be really happy when I wasn’t wanting to kill them. I could run the house that has bizarre rules about when you are and aren’t allowed to pummel your brother into the ground and where you have to patiently explain that yes, this roof is fine for climbing on, but that roof is probably not a good idea because it slopes rather dangerously. I can ooh and aah over rocks, dirt and bugs and I haven’t had a heart attack yet over some of the stunts the boys have pulled. This probably means I’ll end up with all girls who want me to teach them embroidery.