GeorgiaXplant
Well-known Member
- Location
- Georgia
My place is separate from my kids'/g'kids' house, but still all under the same roof. I have my own entry, but there's a connecting door to their side of the house.
Sometimes it's fine, sometimes not. I like not being right there when they're having spats about whatever is the drama du jour (especially the teen drama!), but there have been occasions when I feel as isolated as if I were living alone in a whole other city.
My daughter works from home. Her office is upstairs on the other end of the house so if we need to communicate it's usually either via email or text.
Their meals are usually something from a drive-thru or eaten out unless it's a holiday or something in particular that they want and ask me to cook. There's a full (small) kitchen in my place, but I don't use it much except at holidays. When they ask me to cook, I go over there to do it unless it's something I can make ahead and pop in the fridge. My meals are usually cereal and fruit in the morning (yes, they get food from the drive-thru or eat out for breakfast, too!), a salad at lunchtime, and a sandwich or soup for supper.
Their house is on a corner lot of a cul-de-sac so has a big front yard and even bigger side yard. They have a guy who mows and edges for them. Most of the back yard is taken up by a massive flower garden, my pride and joy, but the lawn is very small, so the mower guy edges it, but I prefer to mow it myself.
In spite of having family right "next door," it's a lonely life, but mostly just a function of old age and widowhood, not because of anything they do or don't do.
If you live under the same roof, either in your own place or in the same space as family, how do you make it work? Do you feel like part of the family or like a tenant who happens to be related?
Sometimes it's fine, sometimes not. I like not being right there when they're having spats about whatever is the drama du jour (especially the teen drama!), but there have been occasions when I feel as isolated as if I were living alone in a whole other city.
My daughter works from home. Her office is upstairs on the other end of the house so if we need to communicate it's usually either via email or text.
Their meals are usually something from a drive-thru or eaten out unless it's a holiday or something in particular that they want and ask me to cook. There's a full (small) kitchen in my place, but I don't use it much except at holidays. When they ask me to cook, I go over there to do it unless it's something I can make ahead and pop in the fridge. My meals are usually cereal and fruit in the morning (yes, they get food from the drive-thru or eat out for breakfast, too!), a salad at lunchtime, and a sandwich or soup for supper.
Their house is on a corner lot of a cul-de-sac so has a big front yard and even bigger side yard. They have a guy who mows and edges for them. Most of the back yard is taken up by a massive flower garden, my pride and joy, but the lawn is very small, so the mower guy edges it, but I prefer to mow it myself.
In spite of having family right "next door," it's a lonely life, but mostly just a function of old age and widowhood, not because of anything they do or don't do.
If you live under the same roof, either in your own place or in the same space as family, how do you make it work? Do you feel like part of the family or like a tenant who happens to be related?
