By Doug Forbes

Roxie liked boys. Really, really liked boys. She liked girls too. But boys? “They’re kinda nut jobs, Daddy.” She would smile wryly, adoringly.

She admired dolls, especially those gifted to her by Auntie Karen or Grandma. But she set them carefully on a shelf. And soon enough it was back to an all out dragon assault on robots driving vintage cars.

Hey, plenty of girls like such things too. Plenty of boys like dolls. That’s the way it should be. No bullshit gender type-casting. No clear lines.

But boys. There was just something about boys.

I’m not even gonna guess. I’m just gonna say it was fun to watch. Her gross motor skills delay made it challenging for her to keep up. But she never let it get her down. Her boy friends accepted her into their fold without question. She welcomed them into hers with boundless glee.

This world has become barbed wire fences, great big walls, all sorts of battles for all sorts of vacuous reasons. Adults batter each other so much, we should wear helmets and chainmail.

Little boys and little girls…sure, they can play rough, they can tough-talk. But they so often do what they see. When they look away from us, when they pile on a tri-seat bike or zip through tall grass together in the local park, they are free to be what they need to be.

They can be boys with boys, girls with girls or boys with girls without knowing it is so. They are just being children on a carnival ride into the future.