Image by Hands off my tags! Michael Gaida from Pixabay
“I just feel like you boys want to do everything fast and dirty and you don't care enough about fashion, beauty, and how long it really takes to put a look together.”
That of course was eight-year-old Edwina Ludlow, talking with her elder brother 10-year-old Andrew because he was the only brother calm enough to be able to talk about such things in a calm and thoughtful way, and old enough to really understand.
Andrew was indeed thoughtful.
“But we are boys,” he said. “It kinda doesn't make sense to expect us to be girls. If we all did the same things, then we wouldn't cover it all.”
“All of what?” Edwina said.
“Think about it, Edwina. When that dog off his leash came into the yard a couple of months ago, did any of us think about what Papa had on?”
“Not really,” Edwina said, “although now that I think about it, he was wearing one of his blue T-Shirts and the long khaki green shorts that go to his knee that he wears when he has to work outside and it's hot.”
“OK, but did it matter?” Andrew said.
“No,” Edwina said, “although it would have been weirder if he was wearing those Hawaiian shorts and the tie-dye stuff we made later.”
“OK, but, did it matter?”
“No.”
“OK, so life has fast and dirty stuff and fashionable stuff. Which would you rather be doing?”
“Obviously, Andrew, I'm built for the fashionable stuff.”
“OK, so that means someone has got to do the other stuff, and it seems that boys grow up to do more of that while girls do the beauty stuff, and we need each other.”
Edwina thought about this for a long time.
“So you're saying that if everybody does the same thing, then nobody actually gets to do anything because all the stuff that needs to happen so things happen won't happen?”
“That's not quite what I said,” Andrew said, “but God told you the extra part that I didn't know how to say. It's like Papa and Grandma … she gets to be happy and beautiful because he is strong and takes care of things, and he gets to be happy because she is happy and beautiful and takes care of the things that are more like the things that you like.”
“OK, I kinda see that.”
“Papa likes to be clean, but he can be really fast and rough, and so George, Grayson, Robert, and I have to learn too.”
“And that gives Amanda, Eleanor, and I space to be more like Grandma – OK, I see it, although I think Grayson is more the type that is going to hit a computer button somewhere and bad things start happening to the people that want to hurt us.”
“Actually, so am I,” Andrew said, “but, I feel like I have to learn it both ways, and Grayson is just six. Leave him with enough Legos and time, and at this point, any intruder would be messed up – step on a Lego, fall down, and Grayson just builds a whole jail around you – but when he gets big enough to be using forklifts and cranes and bulldozers and stuff, it is OVER.”
“That's actually kinda scary,” Edwina said, “because you feel like the way he builds now, if he or even Robert were big enough to reach the gas pedals, they would just be doing all that stuff right now. I gotta say Robert too because when he is not running his mouth and he and Grayson are building together, he shows he can do that too. I feel like Robert could go both ways too.”
“It's scary for people who don't like Ludlows,” Andrew said, “and that's kind of why we in the Ludlow man-training unit have to learn fast and dirty moves like Papa – let people know what is about to happen to them if they mess with us by showing what happens to the first one. But that's also why we have to be kids first, because your mind has to get to a certain height too before doing all that.”
Edwina gave Andrew a hug.
“I love you just the way you are … and I kinda love Robert and I'm trying to love George, while Grayson is just darling!”
“We all have to get there,” Andrew said. “You see Grandma only loves one man, anyhow … it's not easy to love us, but, we try to make it worth it.”
“Robert is trying. Grayson has it done. You have it down. George is trying to get there.”
“But see,” Andrew said, “if I were old enough to bet, and were interested in that, I would bet George is having it harder because in the end, he's the second-hardest Ludlow fighter there is. George has that thing in him that Papa does, and when he gets it together, man oh man!”
“It's just trying to live until he gets there,” Edwina said.
Andrew put his arm around his little sister.
“We'll make it,” he said, and kissed her gently on her forehead.