I read once in a book that there are only a few things boys really need to grow up feeling content and loved.  Most of them, sadly escape me.  They seemed mundane at the time, little obvious pieces of advice I suppose, and I never even stored them in my brain.  All of them that is,  except one.  One of the little numbered ideas stayed with me and makes me smile whenever it deems appropriate.

Boys need someone to have an adventure with.  A best friend.  A brother.  A group of buddies.  

I know these boys; I know these adventuring, laughing, always up to something, never ever a dull moment type of boys.  I grew up all around them on a tiny island with endless ideas to weave tales told for decades.  They always made me smile, these boys.  You could see them as tiny specks on surfboards bobbing around in the ocean, and just hours later jumping off the pier, and you could predict their bodies would be in motion skateboarding off the rec steps soon after.  Their stunts were laughable and real and memorable.   On lucky days, when the stars aligned and I joined in, the stories felt epic in my mind, when to them it was surely just another day.

Now, I look at these two fool-hardy dynamos of my own and I think, they would fit right in.  They don’t know a dull moment; They don’t exist in their worlds.  A boring day could never happen.  Battles, escapes, rescues and discoveries are around every corner.  From the moment they stir with the morning sun, until it sets behind the mountains, I get to witness the joy that occurs when two audacious boys have each others company.

And look, mere seconds into a Mama induced -pause for a photo- you can quite clearly see they are onto the next thing.

So long as there is fresh air blowing…