Living at home isn't that bad

Imagine this:\nYou come home from your boyfriend's house Sunday evening and your roommates are in the kitchen eating dinner. Your plate is prepared and warming in the oven. You finish eating and try to help clear the table, but one of your roommates scolds, "Go do your homework!" As you head to your room, your roommates settle in front of the television. The "Lawrence Welk Show" theme music follows you up the stairs.\nThis is my life.\nI have two roommates. Their names are Mom and Dad. And, surprisingly, that's not as bad as it sounds. Of course, I'll be the first to admit I'm lucky. I have especially patient and generous parents. When I moved back to Bloomington to go to school, my parents actually bought a larger place so I could move in. I have the master bedroom in our house, with a balcony, a bath and a ridiculously large walk-in closet. \nSo I have a phat living space, rent-free. My meal plan consists of free meals whenever I choose to go home and get them. And (over my protests, yet with embarrassing frequency) I come home to find my- laundry clean and folded on my bed. Plus there are little financial perks like having your toiletries and favorite munchies included in the family grocery bill. The television in my room comes with all the premium channels at no cost to me, as do hot water, phone service and electricity. There is also the huge bonus of having a roommate who inevitably asks if I have enough money as I'm leaving Friday night and slips me a twenty if I say no.\nOf course, there is a slight downside to living with two senior citizens who once wielded the authority to ground me for bad grades or a messy room. The downside is that my personal, private, all-for-Jeanne space consists of a bedroom, a bathroom and a closet. Little private space is a typical student complaint, but my private space sits in the middle of a house where, well, where I can't do anything I wouldn't want my parents to see or hear. This situation puts a slight crimp in my personal life. My boyfriend never stays at my place -- that's for sure. \nI also have two roommates who aren't afraid to scold me if they think I haven't gotten enough sleep lately or if they notice I've been spending more time watching Buffy reruns than studying. In our case this problem is exacerbated by the fact that I'm the baby of the family by a margin of more than 10 years. My parents have never lost that tendency to "parent" me, and I still tend to let them.\nBut in spite of some very minor inconveniences, living together works for my parents and me. It's even a semi-reciprocal arrangement. For example, they don't like to drive at night anymore, so my chauffeur services are appreciated. But their real payment (and they'll tell you this, too) is my success in school. I don't pay rent, but I do get A's. And really, we just like each other. We talk and laugh a lot. \nI'd miss them if I moved out. Of course, I will eventually. I'll graduate in a few semesters, and that'll be the end of our odd living arrangement. My parents will be empty-nesters (again), and I'll finally be able to have my boyfriend sleep over. But I'll miss the laundry service.