I remember a time in the not-so-distant past when life wassimple. I lived in my parents' house, ate their food and fulfilledmy primary responsibilities, which included cleaning the bathroomsand not doing anything to screw up anyone's life.
I moved into Schmidt Hall two years ago, and in retrospect, lifewas still pretty peachy. I thought at the time that I had animmeasurable amount of additional responsibility, but, all thingsconsidered, I probably had less. I didn't even have to clean thebathroom. The only thing that dorm life doesn't have going for itis the lack of privacy and the nuisance of communal facilities, butI think that just having a meal card more than makes up for havingto share a bathroom with 63 other women.
But this summer I decided that I would be really cool and moveinto an apartment. I'm sure Old-Man Responsibility had an absoluteheyday as soon as I moved in and discovered that I had to pay mybills, buy my own groceries, prepare my own meals, do my own dishesAND clean the bathroom - not to mention the rest of theapartment.
The truly devastating thing that we must remember is that thisis only the beginning. After graduation (and at least one nervousbreakdown) we will enter into the rat race that is the "realworld." We will work for peanuts at entry-level jobs to make sureMr. Lombard gets his latte at precisely 9:47 a.m.
We will buy new vehicles, and they will require major repairsthe day after their warranties expire. We will have kids of our ownwho will live in our houses, eat our food and clean ourbathrooms.
Retirement never looked so good.
Even retirement, however, might not be the answer. About fiveyears ago, my Granny retired as office manager at the church weattended. Granny ran the office by herself for a good number ofyears; she was the epitome of the super secretary. I worked withher during her last two years. That way, I could tell thereplacement how the office operated.
As we saunter back to the point, Granny told me that, though shedid all of the office work by herself, she was far busier as aretiree than as an office manager.
With this evidence that responsibility only increases over time,I leave you with a variation on the timeless question posed byFrankie Lymon in 1956: Why do fools leave their parents'houses?
Write to Aleshia at aahaselden@bsu.edu
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