Living Next Door To My Boyfriend's Mother Isn't So Bad

I spent much of my adult life avoiding living with my parents. While some of my fellow Italian family members opted to stay with their folks until getting married, I left home and went to college out of state as soon as I could. Then I moved clear across the country to L.A. Now I've settled about 200 miles away from home in New York City. lemondrop: Our Little House On The (Big) Prairie

It's not that I don't love my parents. I love them so much that I moved back to the East Coast so I could be within driving distance of Boston, where they live. The thing is, despite the fact that immigrant families find it culturally acceptable to stay with your parents pretty much forever, I wanted to truly embrace the ways of my American peers and be independent. Which is why living next door to my boyfriend's mom for the past year has been both uncomfortable and comforting.

I moved in last January. After bopping around between three crappy apartments within eight months I decided it made the most sense to shack up with my beau. I mean I was there 99 percent of the time anyway, it only made sense that I live there, right? However, my boyfriend had never lived with a girl, let alone in an apartment next to his Christian minister mom, who didn't exactly approve of shacking up before tying the knot. But her love for her son (and for his amazing girlfriend) outweighed her traditional values, and, with her blessing, I moved in. lemondrop: Draw A House; Learn About Your Personality

I didn't think families could be more tight-knit than mine until I met my boyfriend's Indian family. It seemed the percentage of Indian-American kids living with or right near their immigrant parents was even greater than the number of Italians I knew who still hung on to that ethnic umbilical cord. lemondrop: His Home For The Holidays—Gifts For The Boyfriend's Family

Read more on lemondrop

• Awkward Family Photos Make Your Folks Less Embarassing
• Why I Don't Hate My Mother-In-Law
• Are Single Mothers Raising Their Daughters To Be Single, Too?
   

Written by Giulia Rozzi for lemondrop