Living with my Parents

Living with my parents again is tough! On them too, I am sure. There are elements of it that are really special, because this is a unique time. I am happy to have a place to stay, and am happy to be spending some time with them before I go. I am hopeful that my Mother will visit me in Florence, and wish my Father would also, but I doubt that he will.

Having gone through the process of "purging" my possessions, I find myself at the opposite extreme and totally "anti-clutter". It will be interesting to see how this develops over the year. Either I will continue to embrace it as a life style, or will be dying to "acquire" things again.
Anyway, my parents have lived in their current home for only 12 years, but moved EVERYTHING they had from their home of 35 years into this one, and continue to acquire more stuff. My Dad goes to yard/garage sales and buys other peoples stuff and brings it home. As a result, my parents have a 3 bedroom house, and really no room for me. They have 2 "guest" rooms with beds, chest, dresser, etc, but there is no drawer space, no closet space, and no space on the surfaces of anything to put my things. As a result, I am living out of suitcases, in more clutter than I can sometimes bear.

My parents are active, so have lots of things to do during the day, but I never have any time alone, which as you all know is important to me. The closest thing to time along I have found is spending several hours a day at Panera Bread taking advantage of their free wifi.

Here are some of the things that are challenging about living with my parents:

1. My Dad fries country ham or bacon every morning filling the house with the smell of pig.
2. They have a small ankle biter dog who smells like a goat, and barks and begs.
3. They watch Wheel of Fortune every night, and Deal or No Deal too. Both at loud volumes.
4. It is cold in the house. They have a gas fireplace with a blower, but my Mom won't let Dad turn it on because it makes her hot.
5. Their computer is a dial up with a 56 baud modem. I can't use the phone when I am on the computer, it takes days for the screen to change. I gave up on it and stay at Panera.
6. They do not have a garbage disposal! It's like a 3rd world country!
7. They have a dishwasher, but don't use it.
8. They keep cookies in their house.
9. My mother reads me the newspaper. Mostly the obituaries, when I am trying to watch something besides Wheel of Fortune
10. There is no room on the bathroom counter for my toothbrush.

Looking at this list, I can see how set in my ways I have become. Really it is the small things that will put you over the edge.

Bottomline, I am grateful to have a place to stay, and happy to be spending some time with my folks before I go.