A Family Tradition and Princesses

Tonight was the night that I attempted to begin passing on a tradition from myself to The Brother. I would pass it on to the girls as well, but to be honest they have never really seemed interested in this particular tradition. That's too bad, because I would gladly share this with them.

What is this tradition you say? Is it a ritual, a right of passage in the family? Is it something sacred and guarded? Something that is secreted away in Durham family lore, passed from father to son generation after generation? The answer to these many questions is...no. It's about the way I eat my ice cream. As far as I know, I am the only one in my family that eats ice cream this way...until tonight. Brother saw what I did and requested the same be done for him.

For some reason that I honestly can't explain I began stirring up my ice cream somewhere between the ages of 4 and 6. I remember being with Brad Robinson at the time at his grandparent's house and his grandmother giving us ice cream with chocolate syrup on it and I recall Brad stirring his and encouraging me to do the same. I remember his grandmother having to do it for me. But it was so good that way and I have done it ever since. When I have store bought vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on it, I find myself stirring it in to a milkshake like consistency and eating that way. And tonight Brother joined me in this strange tradition. For whatever reason it made me smile to have him want to do the same with his ice cream.

Later in the evening, Puck got a hold of my chap stick and wanted to put some on Brother. He at first refused. Then she put some on me. After that he decided that he could use a bit as well, so he let her put some on his lips. At this point he stood up and declared "I a princess!!" Such a proud moment for this Daddy, for my son to call out that he is a princess, and then dance around with Puck while she chants "We're princesses! We're princesses!" Boo tried to make it seem better by pretending that Princess actually just meant prince, but I know the truth about that word. Thankfully, he is only two and has no real concept of being a boy or a girl, so it truly doesn't mean anything, I just found it humorous.

Grace, Peace and Love y'all.