Jem and Scout

My first experience of ever really loving children inside and out was when my legendary high school English teacher, Moira Lovell, read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' to the class and introduced us to Scout and Jem. 

I can still hear her commanding voice change into that of six year old Scout, making that fiesty little creature come to life in a hot Maritzburg classroom. It's a skill I was to later share in life with my Westville girls in our oven of a prefab classroom. Those lessons reading Mockingbird are still some of my most treasured. 

And now, its several years later and an English colleague got me thinking about my favourite novel again. 

Our conversation began with me explaining that this holiday Eva taught herself to read and write. She's a January baby and let's just say that she's whizzed through all her milestones. Being a second born, a girl and having a brother four years older than her helps. As a teacher I'm well aware of the burden literate kids can be when the rest of the grade is trundling along with 'Mo the Monkey' and it's why I've been hesitant to introduce literacy to Eva too soon. But she's now taught herself so that ship has sailed. 

I was explaining this all to my colleague and at the end of it he sagely nodded and concluded, 'So she's Scout.'

And few things have made more sense. Eva is totally Scout, and Gray is totally Jem. And in my eyes they're the perfect pair, have been since I was 15. 

This evening I watched the two of them 'playing' hockey together. Poor Gray had to tone down some of his innate athletic ability to ensure that Eva didn't throw a wobbly and rage when she wasn't able to get the ball from him occasionally. She is so fiesty and Gray is generally so docile (with his sister). Watching their body language across the pitch was like watching a placid colley herd a rabid sheep away from a cliff. 

We very seldom have major fights between the two too. Yes, the usual sibling vibes but given the full scale wars I witnessed in the various Winterton families of my youth my two are pretty kiff. I suppose it comes from the bigger age gap - just like Scout and Jem my two are almost four years apart and by the time Eva arrived Gray was more than ready to accept 'Pirate'into the family. When he discovered he was actually a she that didn't seem to bother him all that much either. 

Like Scout and Jem my two have also had to face some pretty serious trauma together - the day they discovered our domestic worker unconscious on the floor having a stroke they worked as a team to get help and to save her life. If they hadn't had each other I think the outcome would have been very different. 

Jem Finch is described as adventurous, responsible and brave; with a growing sense of morality. Scout is spirited, intelligent, empathetic and loyal; with a growing sense of the world's complexities. I would use similar words to describe my two. 

And the funny thing is they also have an Atticus for a father. A man of words, learning and literature. I'm hoping I too have a bit of Atticus in me - because I don't think I'm much of a Calpurnia. 

I know a couple of people currently on the fence about whether they should have a third child or not. And I can't really relate because when Eva was born I feel like she was the final character in my novel, the Scout to my Jem. And as these two have grown I realise now how blessed I am to have children who I've been loving inside and out since I was 15 years old.