Slate Readers tell Great Recession stories of moving back home.

The Visit That Never Ends
Readers tell Great Recession stories of moving back home.


Grandpa, His Lady Friend, and Me
The downturn has been particularly brutal for young people entering the job market. Those who went to graduate school knew they'd be taking on huge debt, but they saw it as in investment: Their degrees were supposed to allow them to choose among the most alluring jobs. Laura Sankey graduated from law school in 2009, but after a fruitless 18 months attempting to start her legal career, she is now looking for jobs unrelated to the law, and her hard-earned degree now feels like "$100K of gambling debt." She is being kept afloat by the fact that her grandfather has a big, mostly empty house. Her belongings are stacked in his garage, and she lives in his basement.

"Most nights, he goes over to his lady friend's house for dinner and a movie or TV program—they both are big fans of Jon Stewart and The Office. I often get invited, and I usually tag along about one night a week," she writes. Grandpa pays for the utilities and keeps the kitchen stocked, and Sankey, a vegetarian, does her part by cooking him occasional dinners. "He's of a meat-and-potatoes generation, so when I cook for us both, his first impression is always, 'This looks ... interesting,' with a bit of a raised eyebrow. He's always game to eat what I make, though he's vetoed any tofu recipes."

She feels indebted to her grandfather and despairs about how to get on with her life. "I hate that I turned 29 a couple weeks ago and I'm once again dependent on my family for my survival. I know that I'm lucky to have family to fall back on, and that there are plenty of people who are much worse off than I am. It's hard not to feel like I'm taking advantage, though, no matter how much my grandpa claims there's no problems with me being there."

One of Sankey's biggest fears is that the rest of her relatives, struggling to keep a family business afloat, might also find themselves in need of her grandfather's largesse, "I'm crossing my fingers that my grandpa's house doesn't fill up with my parents, brother, aunts, uncles or cousins, since we're all just barely holding it together."

response from reader: GG1000
Gee, uh, your grandfather both took you in and pays for your food - I have a suggestion. Cook stuff he likes! For Chrissake - the man's supporting you as an adult and you won't even stretch a little to cook meat? You don't have to eat it. Honestly - how ungrateful.

more stories at the link

http://www.slate.com/id/2277569?nav=wp

happy for godsake. Chins up, honey. I hope you get a job but really, keep the home happy too.