Quotable Moment.

"Boys. They're like luxury items."

-From a source who desires not to be named.

Edit: An additional bit of context. The quote above occurred after dinner at my house a few nights ago (mere minutes before I posted it, actually). I cooked that night: spaghetti with homemade sauce, plus salad. Forty five minutes isn't really quite enough time to prepare sauce from scratch (raw vegetables from the pantry and tomatoes we canned last summer); it was a little chunky, but actually quite tasty, if I may say so myself.

But then there was the question of how much spaghetti to cook. I expected a mere seven people around the table (the same number as our family when everyone is home): parents, two sisters, one brother, one boyfriend, and myself. At the time of cooking, only my youngest sister, my boyfriend, and I were present: this may have been a mitigating factor in my slightly conservative decision to cook exactly one pound of spaghetti noodles.

And then, my brother came in from riding bikes and playing basketball with his friends. His hungry demeanor, coupled with the fact that his friends were still hanging around outside, made me second-guess my cooking decision. I knew there would be plenty of sauce, but had I made enough noodles?

My sister and I discussed the matter and decided that there was probably enough, unless his friends came in to eat too. If we added another couple teenage boys to the aforementioned head count, we would have to prepare more food (and set the larger table). What to do?

The boys didn't end up coming in, but mom still decided to throw more spaghetti in a pot when she came in from the garden. We actually had enough with just the first pound; the additional leftovers have made nice lunches for the last couple days.

So where did the opening quote fit into this story? Toward the end. As we cleaned up after supper, the discussion turned to the phenomenon which is the male appetite... and the related costs of keeping a boy around.