You Go Girl

For her first eight babies, my mom kept up a reasonable variance, in that she produced an even number of little boys and girls, alternating them in a boy-girl-boy-girl pattern. That is until baby number eight. That's when my mom started on a streak of four girls in a row. What had been a perfect yin yang thing, where the needs of the boys and girls balanced out, suddenly started to lean heavily to the female ways of doing things. More dolls than toy cars started to fill the house, more girly things in general took over. The worst was that because of the imbalance of girls to boys, the boys had to all share one bedroom, while the girls got to pair up only two to a room. When I finally broke free after high school, I discovered the joys of living without females in my own home. You know, like the joys of using the bathroom with the door open, and taking a shower without all those lotions and fancy smelling shampoos and soaps crowding you. I have managed to live without females in my home for forty years, and I like it.

This week, Mark and I, are hosting Mark's sister, sister-in-law, and two of his nieces. Once again the balance in my home has been tipped to the female side. It is a rude awakening for me. Suddenly my home is awash in the color pink, and my bathroom is filled with the scent of various ladies products. Every time I turn around these girls are rubbing sweet smelling lotions and balms all over their legs and arms. I also suspect that they might each have at least two cell phones per girl, because every outlet in the house is taken up by chargers of every type. The girls are all very sweet, and I am glad to see them, but I can assure you that by this time next week I will be quite happy to be sitting in front of my television, in my underwear, and watching something besides the Oxygen network.