PenPenWrites

The semester is almost over. The students who went off to college as overgrown teens are heading home for the summer as adults. A friend's son, after two years of struggling with college courses, is coming home for the duration–to figure out what he'll do next, what he wants out of life, whether further schooling is for him. It's a tough time for him–and for his parents. 

His imminent arrival feels, says my friend, "like an invasion of my space." He'll be bringing home–to the house where my friend and her husband comfortably raised two children–all his clothes, sports equipment and odd pieces of furniture he picked up to furnish an off-campus apartment he shared with friends.

But I don't think that's what she means by an invasion. The physical presence of a young adult who's in some turmoil and the daily reminder of that internal contest is not to be discounted. And that's what I think she means when she says, "The house is too small for three adults."