Some people look into the face of my little man and ask, “How can you get mad at a face like that?’

My answer? “I’ll give you ten minutes with the kid and you will see for yourself.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. My son Jack, in all of his 4 year-old glory is a sweet, loving, loyal individual. He is free with the hugs, fierce with the lovin’ and absolutely, 100% madly devoted to his mama. I love him with every part of my being. And he’s a good boy. Except when he’s not. Which is about 65% of the time. Now, I’m no stranger to the widely-held belief that boys are more apt to cause your grays to shine and have been known to bring on a new facial wrinkle in twenty minutes flat and I am here to tell you that in my experience, that only scratches the surface. Jack is one to push your buttons to the point of bursting and then lightly blow on it to send you right over the edge.

And just when you think you can not take another single moment, he hugs you with so much love you forget he ever poured water in your utensils drawer to “warsh them.” And then you forget he ever stuck marshmallows in the toilet to see “if them float”. And you also forget he ever used your hairbrush to clean the “weird things” off the dog’s back legs. You even forget he ever used half a bottle of sunscreen on the table in his bedroom because it “was gettin’ too much sun from the window.”

Still warm from the hug, you look down at your little boy, into his innocent little face and see black smudges marring its beauty…and then you remember. Like waves crashing onto a sandy beach, the memories of all of his better forgotten actions come flooding back. Because he has your mascara all over his face.

You can’t help but ask, “Why, Jack?”

He looks at you and plaintively answers, “Why not?”

Why not, indeed. *insert involuntarily eye twitching”

Bye for now, friends.

Mindy