The difference between boys and girls can be summed up in this picture

Or at least, the difference between the boy and girl in this house.  I am not a fan of gender generalizations, but Gloria Steinem need only spend a morning with these two to see traditional girl/boy roles played out to the fullest.  My Frances—sweet, nurturing, forgiving, selfless, and fully-clothed.  My George—silly, rough and tumble, energetic to the nth degree, and prefers to be knickers-less.

This picture is also a pretty good representation of how the holiday weekend went at the Homiller house without the calming influence of Will (who did surprise us by coming home for dinner on Memorial Day – yippee!!).

I don’t know if it was my sheer exhaustion from the weekend or the state of my emotional health (or both), but I picked this book up at Frances’s school book fair yesterday because it made me cry real tears right there in the Kindergarten hallway.

I kept thinking as I thumbed through one animal mother love story after another, “WHO can I give this to?  WHY didn’t I see this before Mother’s Day?  I would have bought one for every mother I know.”  And so, I bought it for myself (which was really the kind thing to do after slightly soaking the pages with my sniffles).  Reading the lengths that monkeys, elephants, ducks, dogs, and even snails will go to protect their children is nothing short of miraculous and I completely identified with every single act of altruism.  A mother’s love is not only universal among humans, but universal among all living things.  It is primal.  It is genetic.  And perhaps most extraordinary, it is necessary for the survival of a species.  For all species.  Mothers are it.

Another reason I bought the book is that it is filled with quotes about mothers; and you know how I love a good quote.  Most of them are stirring, lovely, and beautiful, but this one instantly reminded me of George:

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she rather enjoyed it.”  - Mark Twain

As always perfectly said, Mr. Twain.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!