Life in a NutshellWe had the honor of hosting one of the Johnson gang on his way to the west coast yesterday....our friend Canisius. He is a carpenter, and works alongside his Dad on the family farm up in Wisconsin. He and two of his sisters manage three houses, a barn and various farm animals and vegetable gardens. We went to visit them this summer and had a
blast.
On this most recent visit, he heralded my boys with tales of deer hunting (using bows)imitated the sounds he makes to atttract the deer, and various other stories of hosting 'city-boys' on their first hunt. He relayed the butchering of the six deer they got, plus two of their cows and their two pigs. He told us of their plans to acquire a work horse, and what exactly they plan to do with all of the milk they'll be getting from one of their cows come spring.....
My boys sat there in awe. You see, boys are meant to be awed by these adventures. It's in their very nature. I know DH would like nothing better than to dress in camouflage, cover himself with deer urine (EWWW) and go out into the woods slinging his bow behind his back...bringing home the kill for the women-folk.
And my boys! Well, this is their idea of heaven!
Society today wants boys to act like girls. I recently overheard a mother explaining the reason as to why she doesn't allow her son to play with guns;
"We don't believe in violence, you know..."
I wanted to say, "What....you don't believe it exists?"
Now, I know what she meant. She didn't want her sweet little boy pretending to shoot other people, blowing them to bits... What she didn't realize is that she is denying him a part of his very nature. Little boys are meant to go and conquer. Obviously, there are limits...no shooting your sisters (unless they want you to!-yes, we have a little Wonder Woman in our family, who will gladly play superheroes with her brothers!) And teaching about gun safety is essential...especially if you own guns (which we don't, but still...)
But for boys to run in the wild! And to show them the way to be men...that is the mission of Dads (and even Moms!) today.
Even though we don't live on a farm or on acres and acres of land, DH does a great job by wrestling with the boys, making sure there are planty of superheroes around the house, helping them build bows and arrows, and allowing them to "work" with his tools. Canisius brought some scrap wood and helped the boys draw up plans for a tree house.
I think DH has some plans of his own.....
to go to Home Depot today.
:)