Boys

I grew up in a house that consisted of mainly females. The oldest of three girls, I led a charmed life where no little boys were around to ruin the atmosphere. We played Barbies and kitchen. We loved to play school with the dozens and dozens of obsolete textbooks my Grandma would buy for us. We played Ms. America with bags of fabric. Wrapping them around us like a strapless dress and taking turns walking through Grandmas front door so she could applaud for us. We once came up with a great idea when some of our parents friends were visiting with their three boys from Australia. Playing county fair allowed for a kissing booth! Beauty parlor was fun but not as great as when my aunt turned it into a short play for us to perform. Most of the humor was over our heads but we loved to be the center of attention. Especially when the play called for cocktail glasses and Coors beer cans. We had our fair share of teasing and roughhousing from our Dad. Maybe even more than our fair share. But mostly we had a pretty strong female influence from our Mom and Grandma.
When I had Oscar it was such a novelty! What do you do with a boy? His first years were all sticks and army guys. He carried a stick everywhere he went and when his mini backpack of army guys was accidentally left on a plane once, it was nearly a crisis until I was able to procure some more. Things were dismantled and studied from an early age. Hours could be spent in the dirt. I worried that Siobhan would miss out on the sisterhood that I had. Who would she divulge her deepest secrets too? Who could she cry too when things were just not fair? I needn't have worried. Oscar and Siobhan have been each others confidant and support for as long as they have been together. I am so amazed at how well they can get along and how much they love each other. This has extended to Hans and Olive as well. I am happy that my girls have each other but cannot imagine their or my life without our boys. Watching this has made me wonder what it would have been like to have a brother. What kind of influence would that have had on my life.
Maybe, like Olive, I would have been fascinated by a boys obsession with "potty humor" and learned to write the most hilarious words first.

Maybe we would have taught him about fashion week. Or maybe, just maybe, he would have taught us a thing or two........