Saturday, May 26, 2012

What is a Boy?

A wonderful message from a Great-Grandfather to a little boy on his first birthday!
Boys come  in assorted sizes, weights and colors. They are found every-
where - on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, 
running round or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them,
older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven
protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Wisdom with bubble
gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.
A boy has the a horse, the digestion of a sword swallower, the 
energy of a pocket-size atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the lungs of a
dictator, the imagination of a Paul Bunyan, the shyness of a violet, and
when he makes something he has five thumbs on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, the boy across
the street,woods, water (in is natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains,
Saturday morning and fire engines.
Nobody else is so early to rise or late to supper. Nobody else cram
into one pocket a rusty knife, a half-eaten apple, three feet of string,
two gumdrops, six cents, a slingshot, a chunk of unknown substance
and a genuine supersonic code ring with a secret compartment.
A boy is a magical creature - you can lock him out of your work shop,
but you can't lock him out of your heart. You might get him out of your 
study, but you can't get him out of your mind. Might as well give up - 
he is your captor, your jailer, your boss and your master - a freckle-
faced, pint sized bundle of noise. But when you come home at night with
only the shattered pieces of your opes and dreams, he can mend them with
two magic words - "Hi Dad!"


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