All right - it has been a few years since I had to wrestle with an alligator - oops - I mean a 3-year-old. I have been hanging out here in SoCal this week - being a mom to 4 boys. Yes, it has been awhile.
Let's see, boys are distracted easily, stinky, rough and tumbly. And when you think you will never get through, they suprise you with a tender sweet disposition. My boys are wonderful - I have 8 that I call mine, and then I have 4 SIL - which I will claim in a heartbeat if they will let me! So that is a total of 12 men in my life. I am pretty lucky.
I used to call about 10 other boys mine many years ago - but they all grew up and forgot how much I loved them, played with them, cared for them and prayed for them. Those were some of my nephews. I wish they could remember and understand how much my heart breaks when I see choices they make and how much my heart soars as I watch them progress in life. You never stop loving them, you just learn to refocus your love and attention to those who surround you.
Never did I imagine that my lot in life would be 5 daughters. I thought I would have boys - lots of them since I seemed to be surrounded by nephews - big ones, stinky ones, ones that teased unmercifully. But then I loved doing all the boy things - like digging in the dirt, playing ball, experimenting, exploring, discovering what the world was all about. My favorite book was "My Side of the Mountain." It was about a boy who ran away into the woods and survived by creating his own shelter, learned to eat from the land, etc. I would imagine my own world if I was left to my own devices and created in my mind a world that was magical (I still was a girl!).
Do I regret not having all those boys? No. However, I do have one son who loves to experiment, explore and discover what life is about. That really isn't much different than me!
Now I have 6 grandsons that will be experimenting, exploring and hopefully I will be a part of their lives as they discover what life is all about. But in the meantime, I still need to wrestle the alligator.
