Snips and Snails, Sugar and Spice

Much has been written about the differences between men and women.  The sexual divide is a favorite subject for movies and television shows.  Stand up comics, in particular, have forged entire careers with just one perfectly written bit about taking out the garbage or shopping.  The self-help section at the book store has shelves and shelves on finding, dating, understanding, winning, marrying and surviving your mate.

Soon, I will have been married for 20 years.  In that time I have gone from wondering "why are we so different?" to "it is what it is."  No need to ask why, we just are, for that is how we were designed.   I have come to this place of serenity ("accept the man I cannot change") via a surprising route:  motherhood.

I am lucky to have been blessed with a child of each sex.  Now, I could gush for days with stories about my kids to illustrate the differences--drama and tenderheartedness from my girl, snuggles and steadiness from my boy.  I could tell you about how I immediately fell head over heals in love with my strawberry haired newborn girl.  And, conversely, how my brand spankin' new boy "wooed" me over a period of time after we came home from the hospital.  Truly, I can, and I have.   But, honestly, what can I say on the subject that hasn't already been said?  Lord knows I love words, and, well, yes, I suppose I have a way with them, but, as we all know, sometimes a picture is just as, if not more, effective.

My Darling Dears attended Vacation Bible School in June.  These crosses were produced during craft time one day.  One boy, one girl, each given the same materials, produced two completely different results.  Can you guess whose is whose?

Yes, I think we have firmly established it:  men and women are different.  I don't understand my husband because I can't.  Before he was my husband, he was first, a baby boy, knitted together of a completely different material than I was.  Having spent seven years bringing up a boy and a girl in the same house, on the same food, with the same rules, I can only conclude we come out of the womb this way.  We are what we are.  It is what it is.