So if you didn't know it: I'm in my mid 20s and I'm proud to...live with my parents. It has been an interesting phenomenon that has become more common amongst my generation in the United States. I remember being in high school and thinking how I would never again live with my parents and how strange it was to me that my host siblings were in their 20s and continued to live at home. Now I am one of them. There are a whole slew of theories as to why this has become more common within the U. S. (mostly based on the college debt my generation accrues and the fact that we wait longer to get married) and numerous opinions exist about the increased return to the nest.
This is my second return home and both times I have approached it with mixed feelings. However when my friends ask me incredulously how I like living again with Mom and Dad, they always seem so surprised when I respond, "I love it." There are always adjustments, but I feel most blessed by my parents and their willingness to re-incorporate me into the home. I am actually quite sad at the prospect of moving out in the fall. I have become accustomed to the support they offer me and their willingness to listen to my lengthy tirades over environmental health issues. I've been spoiled by their willingness to recycle, to cook, to let me engage in my fanatic house cleaning episodes. I've adjusted to sharing a printer and all household appliances. I've gotten used to "my" car with its better gas mileage and low-end features becoming "our" car and I've enjoyed having someone to watch baseball games along side. And in fact I have been spurned on by the quiet passion that both my parents have for their own work.
A couple years ago I used to have a habitat of using my Saturdays to engage in what I called the 3 Cs: coffee, cleaning, and communication. Today I spent my day as if it was one of those from the past. Coffee, laundry, 2 family phone calls, emails, lunch with a friend, and then one of my favorites: good conversation with my parents. These actually are some of the moments I cherish the most with good ol' Mom and Dad-when we get engaged in some element of conversation that opens into further deep conversation.
So all theories aside, I know that I enjoy living with my parents for a variety of reasons. I am emotionally supported, I am spiritually reinforced and living with great examples, I am financially freer to pay off my college and car loans, I am mentally stimulated by their opinions and thoughts, and I feel I am making a smaller environmental impact. My theory on the last one is that I am living in a home that would already be running on almost the same energy amounts (except f/ the water bill). I am not occupying a separate apartment with its own energy usage and additional "things". I also drive a more ecologically friendly vehicle which at times is the family vehicle thereby decreasing our carbon output. So overall I feel that my negative footprint on the world is smaller and my positive footprint is greater when I have, in fact, returned to the nest.
I realize not everyone has the same relationship as I do with their parents (which they also are generally actually glad to have me here) but I hope that we all can take the time to recognize those individuals in our lives that have provided for us and in many ways continue to do so through a variety of ways. I can't say that I won't ever live with my parents again but I do know that I would be blessed to have the opportunity to do so. I am so fortunate for the additional time that I get to spend with them and who knows maybe if I wait long enough, it'll be the two of them that are instead living with me! Maybe the multi-generational family home will become the norm....interesting thought and as generations live longer, it's a perfectly feasible option.
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