I don't know, something amazing I guess!*

Some of my favorite non-related people in the whole wide world are "the boys".



Nick, Christian, Ben and Chris at game night...playing a complicated math game. I love my little nerds.





Chris and Ben making up a new game out of an existing one - it's kind of like...a race.  See video.



Last Sunday, when I arrived, Ben said he felt like life turned into a sitcom whenever I came over to the house. He said it was like we were in the show "My Boys".  It made me laugh because I had been thinking the same thing.  I already call them "the boys" but trust me, in my heart, they are mine.  I had to tell Chris a few weeks ago that I love them all the same just for different reasons, I don't want any of them thinking I've picked favorites - I felt like a mother...

When I first started hanging out there I put in my application to be Lady of the House.  Chris had a lot of rules and he seemed to be adding more and more.  I finally told him to forget it, I would just get a boyfriend.  Finding and taking care of one had to be easier than taking care of them as a household.  I was told I couldn't date any of them (because the others would feel I had chosen a favorite) and I could never get married.  I was told I had to make them treats, clean the house, introduce them to my lady friends (to which I laughed - I don't have many of those).  And the list went on and on.  There were others vying for the same position too (at least Chris told me so) but I won out...I don't know when it happened, but recently they all keep saying, "Since you're the lady of the house...yadda, yadda."

We play games, put together puzzles, go hiking, watch "The Voice" and "Marchel the Shell" (on YouTube - check it out), we play Family Band (basically a jam session where Christian is the only one who actually knows how to play the instruments - but we're learning and he's patient), we talk each other into going to ward activities, Chris will come help me in my yard and Nick has offered to fix things in the house in exchange for treats.  I may be "the Lady of the House" and my job is to take care of them, but I feel like they take care of me to a much greater degree.

I don't know exactly what it is that endears me to them.  Maybe it's the fact that when I am over there, with all of them or any one of them individually, I forget everything that weighs me down.  Or even if we are having a serious conversation, I come out of it feeling better.  I feel my best around them.  I feel like I am the person I really am.  I dont' feel like I'm trying too hard to get them to like me, or that I have to change in anyway around them.  Talking to them isn't stressful or exhausting.  And they like me, they really like me* for reasons I can't understand but I won't question, and I won't turn away the compliments they give me.  If I ever decide to date again, the boys of the world are going to have a hard time meeting my new expectations.