Strong Like Bull

happy birthday you stubborn little bull!

Tomorrow is my baby's birthday. I call him 'the littlest' but really he's anything but. He's my big kid--the one who wears one size bigger than his age, eats non-stop, and walks around like he owns the world ploughing through any obstacles that might get in his way. He's a Leo two times over  so I've always thought of him as a lion. It doesn't really fit though. He's more of a fortress as his middle name suggests.
My friend Abby was here all last week and she described him perfectly: "He's strong like bull." (She doesn't really talk like that, it's just for effect.) And he is.
My grandfather's nickname was Bully and I always thought he got his moniker because of  bullying behavior, you know the kind we're told to guard against and be on the lookout for in schools these days. But now I am starting to think it was more bullish than bullyish....a series of shared qualities in his little great grandson. He stomps his little square feet, charges ahead and at times it is advisable to beware.

So it is fitting that tomorrow starts the Fete d'ete in our town. It's a week long celebration of all things bullish. From what I've heard there will be any manner of strange goings on. The bulls will run through the streets, mad teenagers and old men alike chasing alongside, literally 'grabbing the bull by the horns'. There will be something called a 'toro piscine' where a pool is placed in the middle of the nearby arena and the idea is that these same mad teenagers will chase and run with the bulls in the ring until everyone, bull and teenager alike, is whipped into a frenzy. And just when neither can take it anymore the teenagers jump into the pool, narrowly escaping the wrong side of the bulls' horns. Apparently bulls can't swim no matter how angry they get. Either that or they just think it's funny to scare kids into jumping fully dressed into a pool of water in front of the entire town. Surely bulls have a good sense of humor, right? Mine sure does.

These signs are all over the town in preparation for the fete.