| It's every teenager's dream to move out of their | | | | night out on the town, spending the entire day in front |
| parents' house. There's no joy like that of living | | | | of the telly without being called a couch potato. But I'm |
| independently – free to do whatever you want, | | | | not anticipating waking up to the smell of stale |
| whenever you please and wherever it may be. No | | | | cigarettes and alcohol from last night's party, asking |
| more constant nagging, awfully early curfews and | | | | pesky drunken coeds to leave my apartment per |
| inhumane grounding. No, nay, never, no more! Hasta la | | | | neighbors' complaints and spending the whole day |
| vista, mom and pop! | | | | cleaning up my place on my own. I wasn't too excited |
| It wasn't until I got the boot that I realized moving out | | | | about eating leftovers from two nights ago, washing |
| was easier said than done. It's as if living alone was but | | | | my own clothes in the communal laundry room and |
| a fantasy of long-ago, a dream that's better off | | | | getting a part-time job to pay for my weekend |
| unlived. I wasn't even officially out yet and I'm already | | | | getaways and impulse shopping. Truth be told I'm |
| feeling the pressure of being independent. I could only | | | | having cold feet. It's not too late to quit calling moving |
| imagine how life would be like without people doing | | | | companies in VA to help me out with my big move |
| things for me. See, simply calling a moving company in | | | | anyway. |
| Virginia used to be a ‘mom' task that I didn't have | | | | In less than a month I'll be transferring to my own |
| to bother with but now I have to call the movers in | | | | apartment near University of Virginia. All is well and |
| Washington myself. Though I was still at home, mom | | | | settled, from arrangements with local movers in Virginia |
| was being undeniably unhelpful, saying it was all part of | | | | to mailbox reservations in my new building. My brother |
| my training – like how a mother eagle would let her | | | | said there was nothing more liberating than moving to |
| eaglets fly off on their own, letting them have a few | | | | MD or some place as far away from home as |
| hard falls before they finally learn to soar high up in the | | | | possible. "The farther the better" were his very words. |
| sky. | | | | I guess I'm not one to tell since my new place would |
| I'm looking forward to sleeping in without mom | | | | be in the same State. Maybe once a week I could still |
| pestering me to get up and help her with chores, | | | | enjoy hot, home-cooked meals and freshly laundered |
| staying out ‘til the wee hours of the morning | | | | sheets at my ‘rents. Now that's a sound short-term |
| without bothering to text dad the whereabouts of my | | | | plan. |