Daniel and Brandon are 14 months apart in age. As they were growing up, they often were mistaken for twins… some people had trouble telling them apart (which just *kills* me, because they are very different!) Growing up on a remote ranch in Wyoming helped bond them even more than their close age. I was much too lazy to run them into town to hang out with friends… just go play with each other! I was lucky, ninety percent of the time, they got along with each other just fine.
But there was one time…
We were hiking up the hill just outside the yard… It is steep, and I remember holding onto Brandon’s hand to help him along. He must have been 4 or so, Daniel would have been 5. Now Brandon was furious at Daniel for some reason… who knows… probably something to do with Legos or Hot Wheels…
At 4, his vocabulary was limited… he had hit his frustration limit and just did not know how to express himself. Walking uphill, past the cactus, rocks, and yucca, Brandon blurted out, in his meanest little voice, “You, you, you, yucca, you!”
I suppose it was meant as a 4 year old’s curse word… and probably had something to do with “yuk”, meaning disgusting or revolting… I’m not sure if I laughed or reprimanded his intent, if not his words! But that phrase has remained in my memory.
Every summer, as the yucca blooms…
and this year it has bloomed in spectacular fashion…
I think of tiny Brandon…
and his cute curse that has inverted itself into a phrase of amazement…
“You, you, you, yucca, you!”
