The boys

One of the consistent pleasures of my life is my colleagues. I work with three men and four women, who up until a recent hiring run, had been two men and two women.

Technically it's two boys, one man, and four women because the transition to adulthood is marked by marriage and no other way. If a female never gets married, she's a "daughter" her whole life. I think the rules are a bit less firm with boys to men. Still, my lady colleagues are married and mothers, ages 22-34 with 14 kids between them (the oldest has seven), and the two boys are about 24 and not married.

Both the boys have spent time in Kabul doing vocational training, long enough to know they have it pretty good here. Their mommas love them, they have good jobs, nice farms in the surrounding area, and lots of sisters and sisters-in-law to take care of them.

One of the boys got engaged while I was away at Christmas. He is so pleased, talking to his fiancée everyday on his phone at lunch, and apparently holding her hand at their engagement party. She is his first cousin, and we hope their kids don't suffer genetically, but I just kind of forget Punnett squares in the contagion of his happiness. His parents were first cousins, too.