Going home is not bad

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

There's a huge hot tub on the deck, a full-time chef and gardener on duty, a refrigerator that's always full and the rent is free. That's what I tell people about where my wife and I are staying while our new house is being built.

I conveniently forget to tell them that we sleep in twin beds three feet apart in a room that is decorated with a framed poster of me batting in Little League when I was 100 pounds lighter and 15 years younger, the chef happens to be my mom and bedtime is around 8:30 p.m. each night.

I loved my room growing up, but back then, I never envisioned living in it with my wife and 2-year-old daughter.

The prospect of living with the folks for a month while we were between houses wasn't appealing to us, but it certainly wasn't the end of the world. But advice from others had us thinking otherwise.

"You'll never speak to your parents again," some friends told us. "We did that for three months before we were married, and it ruined everything."

"That's a perfect way to learn to hate your parents," another friend told me.

So far, so good, though. Nobody has come to blows over leaving the toilet seat up or taking the last cup of coffee without making a new pot.

There are some big differences from the last time I lived there full-time, however. Using the door rather than the window to go out after 10 p.m. is a little different. Now, I can get a cold beer from the refrigerator rather than a warm one from under my bed that was packed away months prior.

I still feel like I'm 15, mowing the lawn and helping in the greenhouse to earn my keep around the house.

Hopefully, our house will be done soon and we'll be all moved in. There's no place like your own home, even if you are staying with family.

During the interim, however, I feel like I'm disappointing some of my friends because living with the parents is going just fine.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor and is currently a nomad.