Inevitability

Three years ago, while driving through town, Ian and I encountered a short delay as we entered a school zone and waited for some children crossing with the crossing guard. As I looked out my window I watched as a young boy stepped off the sidewalk and into a large puddle of water on the side of the road. Then, unbelievably, he just stood there. For what seemed like forever. Apparently content to be up to his ankles in the cold water.

I slowly turned to Ian and asked, "Why would he do that?" Ian's answer basically attributed all such acts of randomness to the fact that he was a boy.

I spent longer than necessary pondering this newly-attained knowledge. This scene actually replayed in my mind only seconds after receiving the news that our third child would be a boy...and almost reduced me to tears. Suddenly I was looking at a future where a child of mine would potentially do all sorts of things, like standing in a puddle of water, for no reason other than he is a boy.

Gasp.

Today...three years and many "boy" moments later I found myself standing quietly by, camera in hand, capturing my boy's inevitable leap into this unfathomable world of boyhood.

And I was fine.