There was a time when the boy would sit outside the girl’s door every morning and wait for her to wake up. There was a time when the girl would bring an extra birthday treat home from school for the boy. That was the Golden Era. Now, it’s all who gets the first pancake & whose piece of cake is bigger. They hide each other’s toothbrush. They abscond with crucial Lego pieces. They fight getting into the car. They whine getting out of the car. They reduce each other to tears. Also: They loan books to each other. They play hide and seek. They jump out from behind doorjambs and scare the shit out of each other. They plot against us.
Pizza bagels. Steamed broccoli. Chocolate milk. Just-picked orange wedges. Some of it’s good, some of it’s crap. They, of course, have different ideas about which is the good, which the crap.
All of us are learning, everyday: balance. And: compromise.