The boy has moved out, as you know. He is now busily learning all sorts of Important Life Lessons. Lessons about budgeting, housework, time management, compromise, cooking, planning, nutrition? Maaaaybe...
Or perhaps he's learning, this boy who grew up in a home with two sisters, a mother (and a stepfather who is one seriously classy dude), that "Guys sure do talk about poop a lot."
"So Mike [all names have been changed to protect the gross], Mike, he goes into the bathroom, which is right off the lounge, and we're waiting for him so we can start our game. He's taking for-EVER, and once in a while we hear some movement in there. He's groaning a bit, and once it sounded like he was pounding the wall. So someone goes and bangs on the bathroom door. 'Hey, Mike. You coming out anytime soon, man?' And then there's this groan from the other side of the door, and Mike hollers out, "AH, SHIT. GET OUT OF MY BUTT!" (One presumes he wasn't swearing, but actually addressing the, er, shit.)
Adam can barely finish this story, he's laughing so hard. Rebekah's face twitches.
"Um, Adam? That's just gross. And TMI, much?"
He can't hear her. He's clambering up off the floor, having fallen off the couch. "Hoo, boy." He swipes at tears of gentle mirth near-hysteria.
He's learning that the Important Things in Life are huge motivators. You just have to know what's important.
"At ten on Tuesday morning, there was a pounding on the front door. It's the guys from 52, and they burst into the livingroom, all excited. 'Free burgers! Come on, we have to go! Burger King is giving out FREE BURGERS!' And even John, who never gets up before about 4 in the afternoon, even John got up, and by 10:30 we were all at Burger King having burgers for breakfast. Even John, who takes about three hours to get mobile most days."
Food is Important. Food is Important enough that Adam raided my cookbooks for favourite recipes. Raided cookbooks and took back recipes, not listed on tidy little recipe cards, oh no. This is a tech-geek child of the 21st Century. Recipe cards? Pfft. BLACKBERRY, thank you.
And did he take recipes for my spicy jambalaya, my tweaked-to-perfection butter chicken, even the beer stew that's been in the family for a couple of generations? (I mean, really: beer stew and college boys?)
No, he did not.
Brownies. Because really, sugar and chocolate are far more important than boring stuff like vitamins, nutrient and, oh (hello, Mike?) fibre.
And really, who can argue with those sentiments?
Love it! Boys go for the important things in life!
Posted by: Nancy | June 05, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Brownies?! I am very impressed. That's so much more advanced than grill cheese or eggs!
Posted by: Maureen at IslandRoar | June 05, 2009 at 03:51 PM
My kids all know how to cook, or at least how to follow a recipe. Whether they bother or not is another question entirely...
Posted by: Ilona | June 05, 2009 at 07:55 PM
My reaction was right up there with my sisters: that's Gross!
Posted by: Sarah | June 05, 2009 at 09:05 PM
My 14 year old gets all his recipes off instructables.com - seriously! He regularly cooks us Brownie In a Cup for dessert. It's yummo and because it's off instructables.com it possesses the necessary geek factor to get him interested!
Ali
Posted by: Ali | June 06, 2009 at 02:01 AM