This is Second Dinner

There’s this thing that happens when your boys become teenagers…

I call it ‘Second Dinner.’

The good news is, you don’t have to cook or anything. (to be honest, around my house it’s unlikely I really cooked anything for First Dinner)

But most evenings without fail around 9PM, teenage boys will wander into the kitchen and begin rummaging around for food.

They might decide to make grilled cheeses or waffles or breakfast burritos.

And you’ll be shocked (again) at the amount of food your boys can consume!!!

Then two things typically happen:

First, the kitchen you’ve already cleaned up and the beautiful empty sink you’ve already wiped down will quickly become a disaster.

Yes, your boys will promise to clean up after themselves. And they WILL try, but keep in mind their standards are those of teenage boys.

Also, now you will totally understand those people who splurged and installed two dishwashers. A few years ago you were all, “Who needs TWO dishwashers??? Geez, spoiled!!” But now you’re like, “Ugggghhhhh. Why don’t we have TWO dishwashers???”

My point is, you should plan on waking up to a sink full of dishes for the foreseeable future.

Second, you will smell the yummy smells of grilled cheese with garlic butter or breakfast burritos with sausage and hashed browns, and you will inevitably decide to join them for just a few bites. Mmmmm. So good!!!

Yes, it will wreak havoc on your waistline. But you won’t really mind.

You’ll be secretly proud your boys know their way around the kitchen. And you will LOVE this time with them.

You’ll laugh and talk about sports or look at inappropriate memes together. They’ll be loud and obnoxious.

But you won’t care about any of that!

You won’t care about the few extra pounds or the messy kitchen or their obnoxious noise one bit.

These little moments are just another of the silver linings of the sometimes difficult teenage years, and you’ll mostly be grateful for the excuse to laugh and smile with your boys...these little (now ridiculously gigantic) loves of your life.

THIS is Second Dinner!