Boys...There is more to them than you think!

All of our kids have been home this week, including our oldest son who is home from Colorado. Before coming home, he met a girl who he said is not his girlfriend but may be when he returns from Colorado. Any mother out there would be thinking, as I was, Oh great, he won't want to be home because there's a hottie waiting for him back in Colorado! This particular son also spent a week at the beach with my ex-husband and his family before landing back home with us. So already we are in the number two position, and his patience for being home is widdling down quickly.

Five boys in one house can be very fun. They joke and laugh and pretend they are lovers - climbing into bed on top of each other right when we walk in the room, laughing like hyenas, and walking around bare chested in various sizes and colors of boxers. They eat us out of house and home, talk too loud and wrestle like our living room is the UFC ring. Five boys in one house can also be very uplifting. They talk secretly about the rights of passage into manhood, make sure each are keeping an eye out on our only daughter (my s/d), and share a love that is palpable.

I am left, as a female, on the outskirts of things sometimes. I make the meals, we share outings for ice cream, movies, shopping trips, and generally have a wonderful time together. But as any mother knows, with a testosterone laden home, it's easy to go unnoticed at times. I can cook meal after meal, and sometimes I think the boys believe the meals are gifted to them from the great cooking goddess from above. But today I was proven wrong. Yes, there is still hope yet. My boys have not reached manhood, true manhood yet, so there is still a little appreciation left in them.

My oldest boy asked me to make him a grilled cheese sandwich and smoothie at around 2pm today. I was in middle of writing, so I told him I'd do it in 10 minutes. He fell silent. My precious son, who last summer I cooked breakfast for, made fresh chicken for his lunches and dinners while he was body building, and whipped up other various meals at funky times during the day, did not complain at having to wait. He did not piss and moan. In fact, I thought he really didn't care. I figured he had taken it for granted that the meals were done and was okay to wait silently for me to finish my work.

Then came the almost whisper from the kitchen, You're not the mother you used to be. Sadness oozed from each word. You used to not make me wait one second. Don't you love me as much anymore?

That was my aha moment! He did notice all the meals! He did notice my willingness to stop whatever I was doing to put a little love into his lunch! There is proof that my son, my oldest beautiful son, is not yet a man! LOL!