"The Boys"

This post is not about boys in general so if that’s what you wanted to read, then you might as well stop now J. “The Boys” is the collective name my mom and dad and I use to refer to my three brothers (because it is easier than having to remember all their names).  I still remember the day my family went to mom’s ultrasound to find out the gender of our last sibling. We all anxiously stood there as the image of the little (alien-looking) baby appeared on the screen. Then the physician looked at it and announced “Look, it’s another boy!”. Daniel and Paul shouted yes and started to jump up and down and thump each other on the back as if they had won a competition. I just stood there with my eyes welling up with tears trying to keep them from spilling out. Afterwards, mom took me to our favorite bakery so I could drown my sorrow in a fresh-baked cookie and milk.  However, it didn’t take long before I got excited about being a big sister to another little brother. Although there was a brief period when Andrew was a toddler that I dressed him up as a girl and called him Andrewlina (Dad found out and put a stop to it), I am glad that God made him a boy and gave me a third brother. In fact, when I look back and think about it, I probably couldn’t have handled having sisters. I definitely could not have handled sharing the position of “Daddy’s girl” (or sharing my clothes and makeup).  In my opinion, boys are a lot easier to fight with. When my brothers and I would fight we would settle it with a few good hits (fist fights usually took place when mom was napping and dad was out of the house) or a good bit of name calling and then it was over.  Girls are a little more..well, passive aggressive I guess. My brothers don’t know how to be passive aggressive. They always let me know if they are mad at me which makes it easier to get the arguments over with and move on. Brothers are also good protectors. I remember one of the first times Daniel acted as “my protector” because it was caught on home video. I am swinging on our little aluminum swing set when the neighbor’s old basset hound walks up. (It was probably a gentle dog, but I was terrified of it as a child.) I scream and stand up on the swing about to cry when Daniel walks up (he looks like a mini cowboy with his grimy John Deere shirt on and his little wranglers tucked into his cowboy boots) He walks up, takes the dog, and in his thick Mississippi accent says, “Come on puppy dog..don’t mess with Sissy”. He might have lost his Mississippi accent but he is still good at protecting me from dogs (except now it’s the 2 legged kind ;) ) Brothers can also be really sweet (but in a manly way of course). I remember a time when Paul actually gave me a compliment. We had gone out to lunch and he was worried that the waiter thought we were a couple and that he was a jerk boyfriend since I was the one paying the bill. I assured him that we looked enough alike that the waiter could tell we were related and NOT dating.  He then told me, “Yeah, well I wouldn’t date you anyway...I don’t go for the smart girls.” (Okay, so it might have been a put-down/compliment… but close enough) If you know my youngest brother Andrew then you know that he is extremely protective of me, especially when it comes to boys. He wants to know who, what, where, when, how of any situation that involves me and a boy. I can’t even go to the grocery store with him without him analyzing every boy that might accidently glance my direction.  My point of this spill about how great my brothers are is that sometimes God gives us what we need and not what we want because He knows what is best. I might have wanted sisters (and even prayed that I would wake up and my brothers would magically become girls that I could play Barbies with) but God knew that my brothers were the best siblings for me.  Oh, and just so we’re clear I don’t think having sisters is a bad thing ( I am looking forward to hopefully having sister-in-laws in the future..if I can find girls willing to marry the brothers ;)) I just think that for me… “The Boys” is the best thing God could have given me.