The mind of a teenage boy

Let me explain the set up. We have a finished basement. Two bedrooms, a sitting area, two storage rooms and a bathroom/laundry room fill the lower section of our house. My son's room is part of all that.

Now sit back, close your eyes, open your senses and envision..........
I gather up the girls laundry and walk downstairs to throw in a load of laundry. As I get about 1/2 way down the stairs something hits me. *sniff sniff* It is musty. Damp. Stuffy smelling. I assume it is because the heat/ac is off during this fall season change and there is no air stirring so I shrug my shoulders and venture on, promising myself to open the downstairs windows before I head back up.

One step, two.....*sniff* No. It is getting stronger. I cannot begin to think what it is!

I finally hit the bottom step and can clearly smell the sour smell. I get in a panic and take the basement tour looking for water. Nothing. This I find confusing and again shrug my shoulders and head to the laundry room.

Oh yes! I can clearly smell it!

It is a combination between a locker room, sour milk and dead leaves. *sniff sniff* I hunt the bathroom down. Cannot find the source. I am now running out of time cause it would be an insane person who would leave a 4 yr old alone upstairs for a long period and assume nothing was being touched! So I begin unloading the laundry basket and putting the dark load in. I notice Ryans soccer clothes from two days ago sitting on the floor. Typical boy! So I sigh and bend to pick them up and throw them in with the current load. And there I find it!

Soccer shoes. Soccer shoes and shin guards. Soaking wet from the down pour on Saturday soccer shoes and shin guards. All rolled up in the carelessly discarded soccer clothes on the floor.....from two days ago.

I do not think I can truely discribe the smell that assulted me and do it justice.

When I asked him why he didn't lay them out to dry or attempt to dry them in the dryer he said............."I thought YOU would do it Mom!"

How sweet of him to know that I would take care of his wet and smelly soccer apparel! Maybe it was the knowledge I love him that caused him to just lay them in a pile and assume I would do it for him. Or that I am the only one in the house who knows what a washing machine is and would be the most likely person to find them. Maybe he assume that one of the neighbors walking their dog would eventully report an odd smell coming from our house to the local police and know that someone, someday would find the wet pile of soccer apparel! I am not sure. Cause I cannot begin to understand WHAT THE BOY WAS THINKING!!!!!

Or how he was able to live in the lower section of the house and still breathe without passing out or throwing up!

All I have to say is that I feel sorry for the coach of the boys highschool soccer team. If the other team players are anything like my son, the smell on the team bus must make the coach have a need for a hazmat suit!