When Little Boys Play House

We have a treat today, my kind mother-in-law has written this story about my husband when he was a little boy. I've heard it from my husband before and always thought it was a great story. I'm glad to read it in my mother-in-law's own words.

When I was a young mother of four little sons, I used to set up a couple of card tables, put a  sheet over the top  and encourage them to play " House"  in order to give them something to do while I did some household chores.  Crawling in and out under the  tables and playing their self-assigned roles was the order of the day.

Our oldest son, being the eldest, always chose to be the Dad, of course.  Our  youngest son, being the youngest, always chose to be the little Boy.  That left the two middle boys to  choose their roles.The younger of the two middle sons, always chose to be the Uncle.

That left the older of the middle sons [Eve's husband], to choose his role.  He was always most amiable and let his brothers choose  first.  I asked him who  he was going to  choose.  And you could just see his little mind working:  Gosh, who's left?  I can't be the Mom and I can't be the Sister.  I know! (he happily exclaimed).  I'll be the BUFFALO!!  So he chose to be the buffalo and gave his siblings rides on his back all around the house.Needless to say, the BUFFALO was loved by all!

the mud puddle

So, I've been telling you my stories, but here's one from the husband. He wrote it out last night for me to put on this blog. So, without further ado, I introduce to you my husband:

Growing up on 5 acres with horses, pastures and barns was a lot of fun for my brothers and I.  But not so much fun for my mother. 

For example, when I was about 5, my older brother discovered an exciting game.  My younger brother and I followed him as he climbed the wood fence by the barn, then climbed up on the sloping barn roof, which was about 8 ft off the ground.  Then we would jump off the roof into a huge, deep mud puddle.  After about a half hour, we went back to the house, covered in "mud".

We walked into the house, tracking mud, to get changed.  There were a few things we didn't understand at that age though.  For example, the "mud puddle" was just outside the horse stalls and dirt was not the main ingredient.  Nor was the liquid primarily water. And we had become accustomed to the strange stench we were giving off. 

So, my mother had the experience of having three clean little boys go out to play, only to come back into her house covered in horse manure and urine, stinking to high heaven.  That was the end of that game, but we soon found other exciting games to play.  But that's another story...