little horrors

I never liked children, and I actually still don't like them very much.  I never volunteer to baby sit, never have, and the few times it was thrust upon me when I was a teenager, only made me think that I would never have children of my own.  I did end up having children.  I can't imagine my life without them now of course!

I was never the maternal sort and I don't think I am now either.  When my babies were little, I never really got into the whole baby talk and thought it was pointless to indulge in goo goo gaga stuff.
I don't smile at babies when I see them in the lifts. Parents look at you with their bundle of joy in their arms and they have this look on their faces like " well aren't you going to say anything to my beautiful baby!!"  What does one say?  I have tried to smile at babies and engage in some "conversation"  and all I usually end up saying is "hello baby"  Repeat several times while wiggling fingers in front of said baby!  Duty done now let me out of the damn lift!  Parents also try to hand you their squirming bundle of joy, Its like "give me 5 mins please, take this child off my hands!"  No Thank You!

When my boys were young, their father wasn't around much for them and I ended up being both parents.  I would watch football with them, and I think my interest in sports (watching only thank you) developed only because I would try to get involved in what they were interested in.  It wasn't easy, and I of course made mistakes along the way, especially after the divorce.  It took me a couple of years after the divorce to start thinking as head of the family, to make the decisions and to steer the boys in the right direction.  I am thankful that they managed to get on the right path, but there was a time when I thought my older one was lost to me and society in general.
I was strict with the boys in some ways, especially about manners,  I didn't care if they dyed their hair Orange (older son was going for the blonde look but...) or if they got piercings or tattoos.  My only wish was for them to be decent, honest, gracious human beings. 
My older son is the metro sexual male, and till today my younger one calls him my "daughter" as he talks openly to me about everything.  He is the neat clean one, and his bedroom was never messy.  He is more aloof with strangers (I wonder where he got that from) but once he warms to you, watch out for the charm!  The younger one is the mans man, sports mad, chauvinist, but oh so charming.  My dad got it right when he said that that one could sell snow to the Eskimos! Somehow he managed to convince me that he was doing me the favour while  I do  his laundry, all the cleaning and the cooking at home...... I am in search of very strong pair of scissors to cut the iron clad apron strings!

It has been an adventure with my little horrors (or as one cousin calls them Cloak &  Dagger) and even if it was a disaster of a marriage, I  think that I did get some good out of it, two wonderful things in fact!