Here we go again

The boys a few years ago - still fun and close

Just when you thought it was safe to use our table downstairs for something else, it was decided to pick sides and relive the Napoleonic Era yet again.  I've written before about this game, and how we packed things up some time ago.  Given the flow of life, I figured certain pastimes would be behind us.

Perhaps it's for one more hurrah before our second oldest walks the aisle and moves on.  They still haven't set a wedding date, but the date will come.  I also have a gut feeling that when they get married and he moves out, the other two oldest will quickly follow.

They've been like that.  As much as they've done yeoman's work making their youngest brother part of the boys, there is no denying the older three developed a certain closeness through their lives that is unique to them.  They may bicker and argue and fight about everything from politics to history to the best Batman director, but they're also fiercely loyal to each other.  

They are very close and often take their cues off one another.  That's a big reason we homeschooled.  For their entire school lives, they were largely successful students, seldom having more than one B between them in a given grading period, the rest  A or better.  But when the district crapped on my second oldest over a trivial bureaucrat matrix, and basically told him his grades were irrelevant next to the all important tests, he stopped caring.  Once he stopped, it was as if the competitiveness between them crashed and they all began to struggle.

Likewise, while they were in little league soccer together, none expressed much interest in being in school sports.  Until one went out for track in the spring.  Then all three went out for sports in school.  Same with working.  The older two had more or less dragged their feet getting a job.  When our third son landed a job at a local grocery store at fourteen years old, within days the other two had jobs as well. 

So they've been very close over the years, and competitive. As they decided it was wise to hunker down among our modern upheaval and crazy and economic floundering, they all three sort of made the decision apart and yet together.  I figure, therefore, once one moves on, it won't be long before the other two, wherever they are, will move on as well.  The only thing they've insisted is to do so incrementally, in order to mitigate the impact on their youngest. 

I imagine that's why they're bringing out the big guns.  Which is fine by old dad.   If the worst thing a father deals with is his sons wanting to spend time with each other and the parents, I'd call that a net positive. 

Upset that Spain has allied with England, my third oldest
is taking his usual measures