Moms of Boys

TWO blog entries within a month?? Amazing, I know. But I came across a website that I wanted to share with you:

 http://www.raisingrealmen.com/

that featured an excerpt from a book by the same name, Raising Real Men by Hal and Melanie Young, and the excerpt perfectly describes the dynamics between my3 sons:-

"Some days there seems to be a pestering competition

going on. One boy tries to get the goat of another, the goat-ee

tries to get back at the goat-er, or is that goad-er? The older bullies

the younger, the younger provokes the older, the one in the

middle goads them both on for sheer entertainment. It's a race

to the bottom, a competition to see who can be the biggest pest."

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, it was OCTOBER I last posted???  I can't believe that. With one son in college, my 10th grader playing high school basketball and baseball plus delving into the wonderful worlds of driving, Geometry, and Algebra II, and my youngest son switching schools and battling allergies,  I have been swamped.  But I had to post today to give you the link to this article in my local paper - The Cary News -- today -- 

 http://www.carynews.com/2010/02/23/16210/a-reversal-of-fate.html

 An absolutely amazing story!  The whole thing is inspiring, but what really got me was the last paragraph when this boy who is now blind talks about wanting to see his older brother's face again. Wow! Next time my boys argue (which should be sometime this afternoon), I am going to have them sit down and read this article. What a testament to brotherhood there at the end.

 

How do these things happen?  I went away this past weekend, thinking that I left the house pretty well-stocked along with a list for my husband to follow to make sure he didn't miss anything on the schedules of David, 15, and Jason, 9 (our oldest was at college).  When I returned a mere 48 hours later, there was no toilet paper in our entire house. 3 bathrooms and no toilet paper. I didn't dare ask how or why this came to be. I decided not to run immediately to the store to buy some, but to wait until the guys noticed there was not more toilet paper, thus creating within them a deep sense of appreciation for all the little things I do that go unnoticed, like buying toilet paper. Over 21 years of marriage and this was the first time we'd ever run out of toilet paper. A pretty damn good track record if you ask me. The problem was -- the lack of toilet paper didn't seem to bother the guys; I was the one it bothered! So, off to the store I went. There is only so much a woman can take.

 

No, not MY baby news, thank goodness! I'm a little too old for that, I'm sad to say. It's my niece's baby news. My niece Kristin is the only girl of my parents' eight grandchildren; we were delighted to find out that Kristin and her husband will be having a baby in November. Then a month or so ago, my sister Mary (Kristin's mom) got a phone call from Kristin telling her that they found out the gender of the baby. At that very moment, my mother and my other sister Gail were in the room (Gail has three boys and no girls too like I do).  So we waited in great anticipation as Mary talked to Kristin. When Mary turned to us and exclaimed, "It's a girl!", Gail, my mother, and I all squealed -- literally squealed. Needless to say, we are all very excited about having a little girl in the family at last. I have been buying pink things for the first time in my life.  But yes, I have to admit, it feels very strange to walk past the little boy things after so many years of buying blue stuff. I'm sure if my niece announced she was going to have a boy, I would have been just as excited to buy the boy things. The bottom line is we can't wait for our baby!

 

Well, here it is with summer's end drawing near. I hope you have all had a great time with your boys this summer and gearing up for the autumn.  My oldest son, Billy, will be going to college in a week and a half.  A week and a half!!!! Oh, my gosh, it doesn't seem possible. For his graduation, I put together a DVD of still photos and excerpts from videos from the past. I'm really glad I did it, but it was very emotional for me to go back through all of those memories. At least he will be going to college very close by (only 15 minutes) at North Carolina State University. He is so independent and so ready to go, but I know I will miss him terribly. 

The past four months have been a blur as we've been doing all the 'stuff' you do to get set to graduate and to go to college -- It was also a blur because my middle son, David, 15, had a great first year in high school, but he had a really tough Honors World History class second semester; I ended up having to go through some of the stuff with him to help him study. (Just ask me about the Peloponnesian and Persian wars or the Renaissance - ha!) He played summer baseball with his new high school (reassigned to another school after his freshman year -- back to the school that my oldest son went to for one year before he was reassigned - long story). David will be taking Driver's Ed next week. My youngest will be 9 on Monday-- a lot going on.