I added this to the side bar also, but not sure if anyone will see it there...
(probably written by Alan Beck and published in Reader's Digest in 1954)
Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood,
we find a delightful creature of a boy.
Boys come in assorted sizes, weights and colors.
But all boys have the same creed: to enjoy every second of
every minute of every day and to protest with noise
(their only weapon) when their last minute is finished and
the adult males pack them off to bed at night!
Boys are found everywhere: on top of, underneath, inside of,
climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to.
Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters
and brothers tolerate them and adults ignore them. A boy is
truth with dirt on its face, beauty with a cut on its finger,
wisdom with bubble gum in its hair, and the hope of the
future with a frog in its pocket. When you are busy, a boy
is an inconsiderate, bothersome, intruding jungle of noise.
When you want him to make an impression, his brain turns
into jelly or else he becomes a jungle creature, bound on
destroying the world, and himself with it. A boy is a
composite. He has the appetite of a horse, the digestion
of a sword-swallower, the imagination of Paul Bunyan, the
energy of a pocket-size atomic bomb, the curiosity of a
cat, the shyness of a violet, the audacity of a steel trap,
the enthusiasm of a fire cracker, and when he make something,
he has five thumbs on each hand. He likes ice cream,
movies, Christmas, comic books, the boy across the street,
woods, water in its natural habitat, large animals, trains,
Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for
Sunday school, composing, music lessons, neckties, barbers,
girls, overcoats, adults or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise or so late to supper.
Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and
breezes. Nobody else can cram into one pocket a rusty
knife, a half-eaten apple, 3 feet of string, 2 gumdrops, a
five-cent slingshot, a chunk of unknown substance, and one
supersonic code ring with a secret compartment. A boy is
a magical creature - you can lock him out of your workshop,
but you can't lock him out of your heart! You can get him
out of your study, but you can't lock him out of your mind!
Might as well give up! He is your captor, your jailer,
your boss, and your master. But when your dreams tumble
down and the world is a mess, he can put together the broken
pieces in just a twinkle with a few magic words...I LOVE YOU!
I really, really love my 2 soon to be 3 Boys!
