A Boy List

It's been a while since there was a good list posting, eh? Time for a nice enumeration I say! Today, (inspired by the photo below of sweet Dee absorbed in the giant maze of a ball sculpture at the local Children's Museum...so just his thing!) I am sharing a list of reasons why it's great to have sons; of course lots of these things aren't exclusive to having boys but really, I wouldn't know any better anyway, right? I only have boys!

29 Reasons Why It Is Great To Parent Boys!

1. I am learning more about knighthood, construction equipment and Super Heroes than I have ever known in my whole life.
2. Someday, I ever have a daughter, an inquiring niece or a little female mentoree who is frustrated with males and asks me for advice, I will have all the inside tips!
3. I finally have a compelling reason to see Star Wars.
4. I get to dabble in a whole range of fashion I've never experimented with: bow ties and suspenders and boy underwear!
5. Seeing stories like The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe or Little House In The Big Woods through the male lens is pretty different and highlights fun bits I never noticed with my own viewpoint.
6. I am having conversations with A about what his childhood was like that I don't think I'd ever have thought of if we hadn't any little boys.
7. The impetus to re-assess sports and fitness.
8. I get lots more practice at hair cutting.
9. I get to learn bravery first hand.
10. Learning to throw a spiral and catch a baseball might actually happen in my lifetime.
11. My bras, earrings and high heeled shoes will always be curious fascinations; bizarre, rare objects that are puzzling and yet intriguing.
12. Hearing my little ones say to me passionately, "When I grow up, I'm going to marry you Mommy!"
13. Cooking in a few years is going to get really fun. I love to cook and I can't wait for the "bottomless pit stage" when I will be able to saute, bake and fry wildly and watch it all disappear with relish!
14. I get to inform a set of fresh young males on the ways of women and what we are all about. Cool and scary, all at once.
15. Hearing my son say bravely to his daddy "Don't worry! I'll take care of Mommy!" as he goes out the door.
16. Lots of pairs of strong arms around to help with all my future heavy lifting projects. *rubs hands with glee*
17. Being sure that nobody will raid my stash of pads or tampons on the sly and leave me low.
18. Lowered wedding costs in the future!
19. Not stressing about the overwhelmingly suffocating Disney Princess obsession.
20. The chance to raise some good-hearted, male feminists.
21. An inside look at male puberty. (come on...you know all you ladies were always curious!)
22. Experiencing The Boy Scouts!
23. Not dealing with that sissy-type-squeamish-girl-thing.
24. Watching even the baby, join the sword-fighting obsession in our family
25. Planning birthday parties and Halloween costumes for themes I never would have dipped into: dinosaurs, motorcycles and cowboys.
26. I will finally get the Windsor knot in my head. 
27. Lots of dance partners for years for square dances!
28. Better odds for many good map readers, logic puzzlers and mathematicians in the house.
29. Studying with my husband the puzzle of: what it means to be a man and what is important about masculinity.

Such fun stuff! Feels good to get a good list out there again. 

Poetry Friday: An Apiary Poem

Today an older poem that I wrote piece-meal over a few years, all about my first encounter with an actual beekeeper, after having fallen madly in love with the idea of owning my own humming hive. I was with a youth group when the beekeeper's wife impulsively invited us to all feel free to peek in if we liked and see her husband using the centrifuge machine to spin the year's honey out of the combs from his bee hives.

I will never forget the feeling in that room. So wonderfully warm and sweet and golden high. Someday that will be me. Hopefully, this coming fall.

I plan to order my first hive this winter.

The Bee Man

He was a wrinkled elder with optimist eyebrows floating over timid glasses

Drifting amiably out of the sanctuary in rangy steps

He had faith (they all say) in young men,

That made them turn out alright in spite of themselves

But I was turning myself out

And besides,

I was a girl

All flaxen hair and laughing ambition.

We were picking in his orchard, a boisterous group

Impulsively allowed to see him spin his yearly gold

Each stuck a head inside the door and winced appreciatively

Escaping quickly from the nausea of sugar + insects

I opened the wooden portal and saw

The sweetly toasting inner sanctum

A gleaming frame held to the window,

A white suit, sunshine radiant,

His grin, a modest veil of bees

And curl of smoky, honey fumes.

My small feet creaked in on his floor

---And the room paused---

I swear to you, the bees hung still in jealous silence

There was a shuffling of sticky tools

A shy ducking of the head,

A small wave of his hand

And I was dismissed

The only females under his wing industriously buzzed his honey into hexagonal gold,

And then hummed protectively around him in the glow of that October afternoon.

You can find more Poetry Friday participants entries at Alphabet Soup, the host blog for this week's edition.