Fight

They fight. Morning, afternoon, and evening.

But they also call each other best friend.

Brothers a year apart, they’re classmates who sit beside each other daily (we homeschool). They’re roommates in our bonus room-turned-bedroom, and they’re opposites.

One of them is serious and maturing, and the other always has a good time, that’s what.

One reads hundreds of books, while the other reads only what’s required and majors in play.

One wants–needs order, and the other thrives in chaos.

One tries to keep everyone in line with rules, while the other breaks them.

You can imagine the variety of reasons they fight. You can imagine how they madden us.

I’ve been asked, How did your boys end up so different?

What do I say? Well…they just came that way.

It seems pretty normal to me. I shared a room with one of my sisters, who I fought with daily over clothes and friends and room cleaning and when to turn out the lights. She’s the one I loved and hated all at once, my big sister. We’re opposites, but still we have things in common.

Just like my boys.

They both love soccer, basketball, lego building, and video games. They love to bike, ripstick, explore the woods, and hang out with the same friends. They love pizza, enjoy being big brothers, and live for days off school. Neither one of them cares for good manners (all I can say is I’ve tried). But they both love Jesus, enjoy drawing, and like to get their own way.  

Oh, but also. They love me. Just last night, one of them gave me a hug and thanked me for something. The other picked a fight.

Go away. This is my Mom. She already told me, she’s always gonna be MINE.

He’s half joking, but only half. He doesn’t understand what I learned when he came shooting out of me. How I wondered If I could love my 2nd child as much as my first. How I worried, because no one could possibly be as precious as this boy I already loved. Until I had another and felt like I’d grown a second heart.

I hope he’ll understand one day, but for now, he fights for me. Fights over me.

Sometimes their fighting drives me a little shy of crazy, but I endured this fight with a smile. They exchanged words, the big guy rolling his eyes and putting his little brother back in place.

This is a Five-Minute Friday post, where I link up with Lisa-Jo Baker and a flash mob of other writers for five minutes of fun free-writing. Join us? 

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