This weekend, all three of my offspring were all together under the same roof.
My roof.
The house might be little, but it's home...and all feels right when they are all together.
I'm not an expert at parenting...not at all. I'll be the first to admit that these boys of mine are all as different from each other as can be, yet they all share very similar traits too. The biggest? They are all funny. Witty kind of funny.
They make me laugh.
=0)
When they were all little we used to have a saying...friends will come and go, but brothers are brothers forever. Coming from a family that wasn't exactly harmonious, I wanted more than anything for them to have each others backs. To stick up for each other no matter what. That it's ok to disagree but always look out for your brother.
The moment Matthew arrives back home, life in our little house shifts. The whole dynamic changes. Nights get later, plans are made, the fridge is raided at all hours, I'm ganged up on, the volume level multiplies by 100, stuff is everywhere.
It just feels...right. Exhausting, but right.
Our middle born, the biggest of them all, likes his role as the middle child. A lot. He gets along with both the older and the younger and truly is the glue that holds them together. Remove the oldest from the picture and the middle suddenly becomes the oldest...and for him, any extra attention put on him is pure torture. He's an under the radar kinda guy.
So the moment the oldest arrives home? Happiness and harmony.
=0)
My goal this time around? A really super good photo that can be used as a 'the' photo for Christmas because more likely than not, we won't see Matthew again until Thanksgiving.
I tried. Bribed and begged and threatened even.
None of it worked.
Next time around I am withholding food.
Food for a photo? Sounds fair to me.
=0)
Michele,
ReplyDeleteYour boys are all so handsome. You are truly blessed.
Denise C.