Setbacks in Personal Growth

Living at home has its benefts: free laundry ("Hey! What are you doing with my clothes!? Oh -- washing it? Okay."), free food (Tony.Weight += 10 lbs.), and free rent (Tony.MonthlyIncome += $700). Of course, it has its drawbacks, like your mom treating you like a baby ("Did you put your retainer in? Did you brush your teeth?").

Last night, I was able to put a stop to the babying by yelling incredulously, "Mom! I'm 26 years old! Come on!" We both had a good hearty laugh, and then I went to brush my teeth and put in my retainer.

As it goes, I don't think my little speech last night had much effect as they always seem to backfire the next day. My mom will never think I am a grown man. Today's episode went something like this: I made a big fuss about wanting to go shopping for some shoes alone, to which MamaTang reluctantly agreed. When I arrived home with the shoes, she took one glance at them and exclaimed, "Those are SOOO dorky," and immediately went to get them exchanged on my behalf. (Note: my mom actually said, "Dorky." Ouch.)

(Note about the image: I am aware that the black socks don't help much either, but that is what I happened to have on when I took the photo.)

Since I actually do not have much fashion sense, and hate going to the mall (much less to do a return), perhaps this was a good thing. On the other hand, you can see how this cuts away at any facade of autonomy I almost established last night. So, living at home has its benefits and drawbacks.