Mothers of boys would tell me time and time again that no relationship compares to that of a mother and son. They would not stop saying it, but I could not imagine it. I assumed they were just “boy moms,” women who were infatuated with and had boys throughout their lives. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to love a boy, therefore I didn’t want to tell them that I didn’t really want a boy and that I didn’t get boys. Our son was then born. And I have personally experienced all those mothers were discussing over the last seven years. Even though I have a strong link and am rather close to girls, there is something fundamentally different about a boy and his mother. It’s challenging to articulate just how the relationship differs. Among my concerns was the boisterous behavior I had noticed in a significant portion of children carrying the Y chromosome. Our second daughter had a wild side, but none of our girls was quite as rough-and-tumble as their boy cousins. Our first daughter was really laid back. Indeed, our son did arrive with an excess of physical vigor. But along with that intensity, he shows me how much he loves me with an unfathomable gentleness. My son melts into me with his entire body when he cuddles.
