Toenails

Gavin was out of school today. I set about to my chores and decided to take the paint off my toenails. For whatever reason, Gavin sat in the bathroom with me to help. This is all very strange. A rare occurrence these days to hang with mom. And yep, it's about to get weirder.

He said, "I'm so glad I'm not a girl and I don't have to do this."  Of course, my usual reply, "That's right. It's good to be a boy. Girls have periods, and cramps, and have to have babies out of their vagina, and have hormones that make them all bitchy. Boys just have to grow up to be good, kind men with good jobs to raise their families and support them. And then there's the yard work, and fixing cars, and plumbing. Man stuff." 

Gavin snorts and says, "I'm not doing that. I'm gonna get married and adopt a baby and be a marine biologist or some kind of biologist."

"Oh yeah, you want to adopt huh? That's nice. Why do you want to adopt?" I ask. He continues to help me take polish off my toes and glances up for one second, bashfully, he says, "You know." 

I look at him and say, "Oh because you don't want to do the thing that makes babies? Why?"  Quickly he grunts, "Cuz it's gross." 

I laugh, and bravely as if I know what I'm talking about here, say, "That's because you haven't hit puberty yet. It's not gross when you love someone. And you don't have to do it to only make babies.... but you should definitely be married first."  (Gotta throw that in there. Just in case he remembers this conversation later.)

Then, he changes the subject with a bit of concern, "Mom, if I don't have a baby, will that be the end of the Cummins family?" Aww, he is worried about not carrying on the family name.

"Well, yes and no. There are other Cummins men outside of Grandpa Don's children who might continue the name.  Only boys usually carry the last name through generations.  Brandon and Nedra might still have babies. And if they had a boy they could do that.  And Noah is your cousin.  Even though he is adopted and not of the Cummins bloodline, he would carry the name. It's just a little bit different."

He asks to help me paint my toes. He paints them carefully, slowly and gently. He actually does a really good job. This is nice. And I love this moment and say, "You're not gonna be a cosmetologist are you?" And he says, "NO MOM." And I wonder if he knows what that means, but he doesn't ask.