The boys and I were enjoying some late afternoon playtime at the beach today when a friendly middle aged woman stopped to watch us. She was highly amused by their antics - and, I suspect, Lyle's sunglasses. After a while, she asked, "You have two boys?" and when I confirmed this, she added with a knowing smirk, "There is a special place in heaven for moms like you."
I told her what I tell all of the well-meaning people who say such things in front of my children as if they were hard of hearing: "I feel very lucky to have two boys. They're wonderful. We have a lot of fun together!" And, yes, of course I am careful to say this because they are listening, waiting to hear what their mother will say, but it is also completely true. Since the day I became the mother of two boys, I have never for a moment wished I had a daughter. I'm sure I needn't spell out here that, obviously, if I had a daughter I'd love her to the moon and back, too; it's just that I don't. I have boys, and I don't need anything more.
What this nice woman - who doesn't have children but is a self-described "aficionado" of them - won't ever know is that spending an hour playing on the beach with my two boys leaves me wanting to say, "Heaven? You mean it gets better than this?"
6 comments:
People have no idea the depth of joy that arises from simple pleasures with your babies.
I spent a half-hour explaining the letters on my T-shirt to The Poo today.
It was my favorite 30 minutes of the day.
PS- where in Chicago is there such a beach??
I could not agree more, Jordan. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my two boys to pieces and watch them with awe. I was thinking last night as I watched them run in circles, however, that if I had even one 1/4 of their energy I would RULE THE WORLD. :-)
We are SO psyched about your beach and bringing the cozy corner outside, by the way. We were talking about that last week on our way home from your house!
P.S. Lyle's glasses are awesome!
Yeah, but isn't it just that there is a special place in heaven for ALL moms of wild, wonderful, young, energetic, challenging, tiring babies/toddlers/preschoolers/children? Maybe it wasn't an insult to your boys, just a reflection that you have a hard (but, obviously, wonderful) job, as all we moms do, and we should/will be rewarded for that? I have to admit, if someone had said that to me about my two girls, I probably would have assumed (perhaps wrongly) that she just meant, "Wow, you have a tough job wrangling two lovely children under the age of three" and I probably would have laughed and said, "Yes, I guess so!" Maybe I'm a bit dim. I swear, since having babies my brain has been muddled half the time. I attribute it to never getting any real sleep anymore.
You wouldn't believe what people say to mothers of boys! I get it all the time, and it's very different from the usual comments on children in general. There's quite often a cluck-clucking "poor you" tone to the comments, as if I was the unlucky one to end up with only boys! It's truly bizarre!
I can't believe the things people say EVER. As if boys were the devil and girls aren't? In fact, my daughter often gives me more trouble than my (disabled) son. Thanks for writing this.
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