He hadn’t.

I try to maintain the normal social life of a 22-year-old, though I have to contend with the guilt of knowing that my mom’s irrepressible maternal instinct keeps her up until I’m home — sometimes as late as 4 a.m. “I wait because I’m your mother and I never stop being your mother,” she tells me, and it’s hard to argue with that.

It’s been tough realizing that I’m not on summer or Christmas break, that this is indefinite. When I was home from college, my mom cooked my favorite meals and I got a reprieve from household chores. I was the prodigal son returning briefly, whereas now my parents expect me to be an active part of the household.

I should feel stuck — that I’m regressing, or that I’m missing out on the experience of living in a big city on my own — but much to my surprise, I don’t. Indeed, there’s something comforting in my situation. I can experience the frustrations of young adulthood and the infancy of my professional life, and still come back to my dog’s unwavering affection and a home-cooked meal. So during the most jarring transition of my life — from student to graduate — it’s not bad having the stability my childhood home offers.

Certainly I have moments that are demoralizing, times when I am unceremoniously reminded that midday naps are not possible, or that leaving dirty laundry around is no longer acceptable.

At times it gnaws at me that I cannot rely on my youthful potential anymore.

I do not pity myself for long, though, because only a few bedrooms away are my parents, the two people proudest of what I have accomplished, and rooting most for my success.

The adjustment hasn’t been easy for them, either. Their nest should be empty. They could put pressure on me. And yet they tread lightly.

I’m more aware that I enjoy their company now that my brother and sister aren’t around. Instead of small talk and holing myself in my room as I did when I was 17, I discuss books with my dad and watch shows with my mom that I’d be too embarrassed to watch with my friends. The invisible line between parent and child is dissolving while a relationship between adults and a semi-adult is forming.