As a little girl I thought boys were very mysterious. I wondered what it was they did with their time. What did they do for fun when they played together?
Understandably so. I am the oldest of three. A younger sister and then a brother eight years younger than me. We have three girl cousins who lived right down the road. Another two girl cousins as well. The three boy cousins lived far away until I was older and busy with my own life.
So when we played, we played house, doctor, school, travel agency, dolls, had our own store, P.A.S. (If I told you what the initials stood for you'd know my maiden name and then you could steal all my stuff). And the brother, well, we dressed him up as a girl and named him Jennie. He kind of had to follow along.
Poor boy. When I brought my future husband home for the first time I was telling him about my brother, how even though he was raised with so many girls, he was totally a boy. We entered my parents' home and he came to meet Brian donning a tutu.
My friend Amanda was born on March 19th. Every year she'd have a slumber party at her house. Garrett, also in our class, was born on March 17th. He'd have a slumber party a few houses down on the same night with all the boys. Sometimes we'd meet up for a bit, but mostly I just wondered what they did while we watched Girls Just Want to Have Fun and painted our nails.
Now I know. Six boys in my living room this morning (which is not terribly uncommon) and the mystery is solved. It's not nearly as romantic as I thought it might be.
And my little daughter? Well, she'll never look with rose-colored glasses on the life of a boy. More likely, she'll wonder what all the little girls do with their time.
