Living with boys again

Several times during this trip I asked myself what the hell was I thinking planning travel with age-inappropriate companions like my sons. When Mikey and Marco were rolling over the beds wrestling, for example. The boys calling each other on the hotel bathroom phones and describing their multi-talking, also. When Cisco barged in before 7 a.m. mornings barking SWA DEE KA in a bad Thai accent. Or when Cisco was stealing socks out of Mikey's laundry. Or when Cisco and Marco nearly came to blows in a disagreement about why birds don't die when they land on power lines. And during conversations like this one:

Marco: "What was that bird making all the noise this morning?"
Mike: "You mean Mom snoring?"
Marco: "No, I know that sound."
Mike (with authoritative tone) "It was the great Thai Crane, well known for its mating call."

Or during endless debates and arguments raised by Cisco's vision (which began in childhood) of Interspecies War -- colored by his Thai experience.

"Who would win in a fight, a Siberian tiger or a lowland gorilla?"
"If you had to pick would you rather be attacked in the water by a crocodile or an anaconda?" "Who'd win, a priest or a monk?" "Which would you pick -- unprotected sex with a Thai prostitute, a woman, or protected sex with an African prostitute who might have AIDS." "If you could get your dream career saving the world and working overseas for $30,000 a year or you could work your career at Taco Bell for $250,000 a year, which would you pick?"

During one lunch over watermelon smoothies and pad thai the boys debated the worst way to die (either burned alive or flayed alive).

It is amusing in small doses and reminded me of my child-rearing years...but I did yearn for a friend my own age at some points.