I'm better than you

It never ceases to amaze me how competitive people are. Oh, you might say you aren’t competitive but deep down everyone is. I think things get even more competitive among family members. I remember watching and listening my Grandmother at our family reunion. After the meal and all the young folk had fled the table, she and her siblings would sit around and compare illnesses. The youngest one always had a bad back. The second had a bad back and sore knee. The third had a bad back, a sore knee, and a hemorrhoid that just wouldn’t go away. By the time it got to my Grandmother, #9, she had some rare tropical illness that she had gotten years ago but never told anyone so not to worry them along with everything else. It was like the 12 days of Christmas only with pain and rare diseases.

I always thought it was limited to older people because I was never competitive with my siblings. Mostly because I was always so much smarter than my brother, and my sister… well we don’t talk because she scares me. She’s a wee bit more ‘focused’ and ‘intense’ than the average joe.

But, something interesting happened the other day that made me think it wasn’t just old people. It started as I was driving the kids to school…

I live in a rural area and recent ‘cost cutting measures’ have made the school bus schedule ridiculous. Not to vent but who thinks kids getting to school 45+ minutes before school starts is a good idea? ANYWAY, we car pool with another family, so I drive my three kids plus two other monsters a couple of days a week.

It all started with older Monster started in with “I have the coolest Birthday ever!”

Now my ears perked up immediately because you could hear the challenge in the girl's voice. I was hoping my kids wouldn’t let her get away with such a snotty comment.

Boy started right in, “Why’s that?”
Older Monster, “Well, my birthday is the same day as William and Kate’s anniversary."
“Who is that? Sounds dumb to me.” You have to love kid's honesty.

“Well, it’s only the day that a prince and a princess got married. That’s a special day.”

Girl joined the fray, “Oh yeah, well we were born 2 days after Jesus. That’s much cooler than any old Prince getting married."

Little Monster has been quiet the entire time. She hasn’t said a thing. After a pause, she said “Nothing ever happens on my birthday. I have the most boring birthday ever.”

There was a moment of silence and then Tiny piped in, “Pfft, I win because Jesus ROSE FROM THE DEAD ON MY BIRTHDAY!”

And with that, Tiny won.