Annette, Julie and I were talking about birthday parties. kind of. How Julie didn’t know how many people were going to show up to the park yesterday to celebrate her twins’ birthday, so she had brought a lot of party favors.

I had mentioned how there is always some unexpected child at one of my birthday parties. How my brother would always bring someone extraneous–even someone way too old to expect a goody bag. Yet, they will gleefully run off with the extra goody bag I’d reserved for Esteban.

And the conversation moved to the idea that boys never seem to notice things like age appropriate. Like, you don’t play rough with a baby, because it’s a baby. No, everyone is a playmate.

Annette: they are slow to mature, and wait a minute, do they ever grow up? I mean, they like to play sports,

Me: video games

Annette: yeah, video games, Chris loves video games! He’s always playing with the girls, I mean, don’t they ever just grow up?

Me: Well, growing up does kind of stink. I mean, all the responsibilities of earning money, paying bills. . .

Julie: supporting the household. . .

Me: If someone breaks into your house at night, he deals with it. You don’t have to. . .

Annette: Yeah, you’re right.

So, maybe, that other stuff helps them to deal with the awesome responsibility of laying down their lives?