The Joys of Being Home!

I think it is hard for every college student to come home. On one hand you miss your family, but on the other there is so much growth which occurs away at school, and it seems like it is not honored at all. For example, ways I have grown:

• if my dad and brother want to live in a bachelor pad... so be it I won't complain... buy I also won't clean it
  
• if they want to cook food that is unhealthy... I will just take smaller portions... but dont get offended if I don't take as much as you or choose not to eat it
  
• if my dad wants to take up smoking again... I will hold my breath and not berate him with my opinion... but don't make me feel wrong for having a problem breathing second-hand smoke
  
• if my dad wants to date women I disapprove of.... I will be civil towards them... but I don't have to be their best friend
  
• if Little Bo want to hang with friends instead of me... I will kiss him on the cheek as he runs out the door... but I shouldn't have to chauffeur him
  

While I think I would have gotten pissed at these situations if I had come home to them freshman year, I have grown up. I don't think it is asking a lot for you to react equally in return. Instead when I come home, it seems my dad wants to do all these projects while I am home and I am left to question why he never has the desire to work on projects when I am away at school. It makes me seem like I am only important for manual labor.

Yes, I was the matriarch of the family in high school, I cooked and cleaned and as much as I hate to say it I provided a lot more parenting towards Little Bo than I should have had to do. I knew that unless I went away to school, that would continue to be the position in my family, so I left. I take good care of myself at school. I do my school work. Feed myself. Keep my room clean. I even do my laundry. I do it for myself and I don't need prompting.

I am sorry if I have given up caring about the state that you keep your house in or your life in. But don't think this is a sign that I can't take care of myself. If I am going to cook it is because I want to do it. As I am making the brownies from scratch that I want to make, don't throw every boxed brownie or cake mix at me and say I should make them. That is both ungrateful and demanding. And it makes me want to go back to school.

By the way, I have nine days before I go back to school. Plenty of time to test out my new espresso machine. And I would set it up, but I can't get anything else to fit on the counter because it is covered in your crap. And I really don't feel like cleaning up any more of your crap. So why don't you clean the kitchen and then I will test it out. In the meantime, stop bothering me about it and let me enjoy my vacation.