Sunday 29 April 2007

Boys

I occurred to me last night, over a glass or 4 of wine, that I am surrounded by boys.

I never really thought about it before, but there are no girls any more in my family. I am the oddity in my relations - I am special.

I come from a family where my father had a brother, I have two brothers and I have two sons. My husband is the youngest of three brothers, his father has two brothers - other than me (and my own mother, of course) there are no girls. My brothers have sons, my brother-in-laws have sons, and their son's have sons - in fact we are going to the christening of one of them today.

Now, either we are a particularly 'male' family and the testosterone is at its peak - or there is something in the water. I am reading a book set in Tudor times and it occurred to me how I would be praised for producing males - I have the 'heir and a spare'.

Yesterday, when I had this thought, I was watching my two sons and my husband along with my friends two sons and her husband, all digging the foundations to her conservatory - six males, six spades, one large hole - "I am not spending an afternoon in casualty" I thought as a poured glass number five and shouted instructions from my spot in the sun.

4 comments:

Mutterings and Meanderings said...

I think sitting watch men dig themselves into a hole while enjoying a glass of wine (or five) is a perfectly lovely way to spend an afternoon!

I believe it is the male whose addition decides the gender of the child, so Henry VIII was a bit out of line for getting rid of all those wives who didn't give him sons.

Catherine said...

As the mother of three fine young men, I agree with m&m, but doesn't the environment into which the male addition is inserted, shall we say, also have an influence on the outcome?

Enjoy the view.

Nunhead Mum of One said...

Living in a house with David and Mac and three male dogs (yes, male dogs are as much a trial as their human equivalent) I feel like a battered tulips in a vase full of thistles. "Girls are silly" is a constant refrain in my house. Mac agrees with his father.

Anonymous said...

Me too! Two boys and husband - sometimes I feel totally outnumbered (particularly when the floor is littered with socks, shoes, ties, and other detritus that females somehow manage to put away all by themselves!)

At least the cat is female!