Many years ago my brother and our neighbor had decided to build a hideout. They used big (you know the huge ones) cinder blocks and stacked them in a rough square right in the middle of the yard (not very secret). I remember watching them and thinking on one hand that the whole secret hideout was cool but on the other hand I wasn't convinced cinder blocks were the ideal choice for building material. They soon completed their construction and were "hiding out" in it. I was messing around in the backyard listening to them laugh and talk when quite suddenly THE ENTIRE structure collapsed on them! I was terrified-frozen watching knowing they were as flat as pancakes under all those cinder blocks. Much to my surprise they emerged from the rubble whooping and hollering with joy--yelling they had survived the challenge. I was both relieved and completely puzzled at this display of testosterone.
This morning I glimpsed that same bravado-the same pride and joy that comes with a boy completing the first of many rites of passage. They made it all night. They are proud and excited to do it again...this time I am not puzzled I am proud and a little nostalgic as I look at their chubby fingered, dimpled baby photos on the wall...
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