Marriage Moats- Little Boys

Published: Mon, 05/14/12

Marriage Moats

Caring for Marriage

(If you want to hear Lori read the story click)here

The other day I knew at first bang that the boys at Lunch Bunch were feeling mischievous. They teetered on the fence between tolerable behavior and actions I needed to redirect...potty talk, hurling a plastic truck as a projectile, squishing caterpillars, using my beautiful wool to felt gory victims of battle. I assumed they had been researching ideas in the Klutz book Kids Shenanigans- Things Your Parents Will Just Barely Approve Of.

I was trying not to get hooked by their antics, while still barring the tricks that push the little girls to tears. At one point they wanted to make a fort. I am usually generous in my tolerance for temporary structures, but this time I used it as a bargaining chip.

"If you guys can be nice for fifteen minutes without teasing anyone, then yes."

From the dialogue that commenced you would have thought they were my political campaign team.

"Mrs. Lori is the awesomest teacher ever!"

"We all LOOOOVE Mrs. Lori!"

"Everybody wants to be with Mrs. Lori every day, cuz she is the best!"

After a sugary stint of this they turned their tousled heads to me and asked in buttery voices.

"Can we build a fort now?"

Although I had been hoping for more action than flattery I conceded.

They pounced on the available materials- cardboard boxes, quilts, chairs, wrestling mats, clothes pins. I sighed. Was I expecting them to be different than they were wired to be? Was I secretly wishing they would be like the girls who are pleased with sharing one box of crayons and chatting endlessly? Well, yeah.

I looked again. They were adorable in their own scruffy way. One redhead lined up the chairs in a row, while two more worked together to drape quilts over it. Undeterred by spatial limitations, they utilized the motley supplies at hand. These boys would grow up to be husbands, who leap at the chance to provide a safe home for their families and solve problems with inadequate resources.

Just today I asked John to deal with the dead creature the twins found in the basement, and I don't think he minded.

When we took our car to the shop last week the mechanic showed us the jet ski he has rebuilt.

"It can go from 0 to 60 in two and a half seconds," he beamed.

Why would anyone want to go from 0 to 60 in two and a half seconds?

I don't know, though I remember my own sons pleading with me to take a spin on the snowmobile. For them this was the pinnacle of life worth living and they were convinced it was for me too. I reluctantly did, although I would not let John drive faster than what was the equivalent of a brisk jog.

BTW, would you pass me the blue crayon?

Photo by Jenny Stein

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