On Boy Vision

by HijabMan :: posted 15 May 06

As many of you know, I moved into a house with my sister just a couple months ago. Upon our settling in and discussing cleaning duties, I stumbled through an embarassing question…

“Umm, could you like, write out some directions for me, and .. what needs to be done? Maybe? Kinda?”

Her eyes shined, a smile touched her lips. I was waiting for some sort of frustrated exclamation about how I need to shape up. Years ago, I probably would have gotten one of those.

“HijabMan, it’s okay, I understand, you have ‘Boy Vision.”

You know, despite not ever hearing the phrase, I knew exactly what it meant. Yes. It’s nature, its not nurture. It ain’t my fault. And because of this, I fully admit that I need to be house trained.

Years ago, when my sister lived in Boston, and I was writing college applications, I visited her, and was asked to do the dishes. She was seriously no-nonsense. I think it may have been the first time I did dishes. After the first 15 minutes, and watching me struggle for a couple more, she took the scrubber from me and did it herself. I felt inadequate. I still do.

It’s been a few years since then, and I just cleaned the whole house myself. My sister just got home, took a look around, and complimented me on how I scrubbed the stove. I beamed. She rewarded me with a pitifully small chocolate that looks like a carrot. never scrubbing that hard again

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