I ended up with my family for a few days last week for a funeral and I have already discussed all that, something that irked me was the blatant difference in how we treat the boys in the family versus the girl, and lucky or not, we only have one girl in the new generation, so far. My boys have always taken pot shots from different family members and I wouldn't have it any other way, it makes them develop a tougher outer skin plus they can pick up on the insults and learn from them.
My brother, ever the judge, jury, and executioner of all things cool, in his eyes, saw Javalina in warm-ups at the wake and did one of those record scratching back ups, called him over with a disapproving look and lectured him on wearing tight clothing, it isn't done by men, if he lived in Crystal he might run the risk of getting his ass kicked over it, and he looks sloppy as fuck. I was helping my dad fix the toilet before we went to the wake, a lot of stuff doesn't seem to get done because my dad has bad shoulders and my brothers are useless when it comes to doing manual things so he escaped my eyes. My brother says what he says, half jokingly, half serious, I agreed he looked like a slob, but my aunt wanted all of us wearing Cowboys jerseys for my uncle, and I guess my boy thought he could get away with the warm-ups since the jerseys were so long. Anyways, Javalina just shrugged said the appropriate "I knows" and bit his tongue. Later in the car, he said I could have said this and that about my brother (he's got issues right now) and I laughed and said do it. All's fair if they are going to dress you down.
That was but a tiny example of my brother poking fun and playing around. When we were leaving Saturday, his daughter was sitting there and I know better than to crack even one joke at her expense, first of all, my mom about jumped over the table to put her hand in my mouth when I said my nieces name to get her attention. "Junior, leave her alone, she is a girl!" this was yelled at me. I said "relax", I looked at her and simply said "Girl, you are 13-14 years old and I am not sure you even have a tongue, do you talk?" I got a couple of stupid smiles which my family would eat up, "oh mija, you're so pretty, blah blah blah..." I don't give a shit about that, I want to know if the hamster upstairs is alive or stinking up the place. My neighbor's daughter was the same way, her mom would answer everything for her, I don't think that allows one to develop, how interesting are you if you answer everything with a smile?
I am sure I will get a lecture from my mom, sorry mom, not about the niece, I am talking bigger picture. Boys have an advantage right in this as part of growing up. Because we don't worry about hurting a boys feelings, we include them in conversations at an earlier age. By including them, they understand nuance better, they don't get butthurt as easily as a comparable female. I don't understand why they would protect her from me, that just seemed stupid. Was I going to call her a whore or something? No, we were joking around, everyone was laughing, I can be crass, but I know generally you don't share "dick" jokes with girls, they don't appreciate or get them. Boys do.
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