My name is Jeff. I’m 27 years old and I live with my parents.

Yes, it’s true. Seem pathetic? Perhaps. But I get along with the folks fairly well and other than the occasional butting of heads with the ol’ man (typical Alpha-male syndrome) domestic life is, for the most part, tranquil. Sure, I did the whole moving-out, going-to-college-for-six-years-thing like everyone else, but then I ended up back in the one place I have ever considered home. Besides, with work (more on that later) and school (more on that later) it seems that I spend little time in the house these days. So I float my pops a few hundred a month and live off the fat of the land, as it were. This brings me to the subject of this entry…

I’m planning on spreading my wings sometime in the next few months, during the summer break from school. Though it will feel good to carve out some space of my own in this world, I realize all-too-well how much I will miss the conveniences of “home life.” Of notable absence in any place called my own will be the Magic Fridge. See, my folks have this refrigerator, and it’s incredible. Each morning upon waking up or evening upon returning from work/school, I go to the Magic Fridge and open it; and each morning or evening I am amazed that it is well-stocked with fresh vegetables, fruit, luncheon meat, eggs, dairy products….you name it. I have come to love that Magic Fridge.

The Magic Fridge is not alone, either; for example, there are some Magic Cupboards in the kitchen with non-perishables and even a Magic Oil Supply in the garage to quench the thirst of my ’88 Volkswagen Jetta. It doesn’t end there. But the Magic Fridge serves to represent those things I take for granted living here. Despite my best efforts in bracing for non-Magical household appurtenances, I have a feeling part of me will miss this place I have called home the past 27 years.

In moving out, like everything else in life, with the good comes the bad; yet it’s been my experience that life deals us larger helpings of the good. It’s up to us to see that and make the most of them. In my case, I find myself wondering if that means trying to sneak the Magic Fridge out of the house while the folks aren’t looking. Hmmm….