My Sons, The Heroes

I have one son who always wants to be the hero. In fact, he believes all men should be heroes. When I took him aside to explain to him that he shouldn't fight with his brothers; he explained, "I'm not fighting with them, Mom, I'm training them."

He's five.

He has two older brothers who have less desire to be heroes. In fact, they would gladly hide behind mother's apron strings in the face of danger.

But, these boys all proved their bravery this week when they found a mouse in the basement. First, they ran back up the stairs to tell me that "there's a RAT in the basement"

I said, "Oh! Well, go catch it and kill it"

They looked at me and then at each other, in disbelief. They made a few protests, like "It might bite us" or "It's scary"

I admit, I knew there was  a mouse in the basement and I was staying far away.

But, I told them, this is what you must do, catch it and kill it.

Ten minutes later, I had the proudest young men I've ever seen standing before me. They worked together, created a makeshift trap, chased the mouse into it and brought it upstairs in a plastic bag. I sent them straight out to the alley trash with their prize.

My sons... heroes.