Teenagers smell bad. It doesn’t matter if it’s a male or female of this hormonal species. Their feet, armpits, breath and hair are obvious culprits but it seems to radiate from every pore. The smell is there always, even just after bathing. When they are at school, I go into their rooms to collect the laundry and trash that that they shed behind themselves, like the useless old skin of snakes. Once a week, I wash the stinky sheets and wipe down every surface that they touch. I still smell them. The smell only seems annoying when they are not home. When they are here it just doesn’t bother me. I am not the kind of person who sniffs deeply from their own armpit, yet I enjoy the smell of my teenagers. It is who they are and whether they are home alone or in the packs that they seem to travel in, I like having them here. Their equally stinky friends are always welcome here and they know it. I would take a herd of stinky teenagers over sterile crankpots any day. Today I am thankful for stinky teenagers.

Still thankful for: my mother the worrywart