I just wrote the biggest check in my life for an apartment that is mine. The money behind the check is money I earned, the apartment is one my fiance and I found; this is our place. For the first time in my life I’ve done something that’s wholly mine, separate from my parents. It’s not a loan that Dad applied for and I sign off on. It’s not a dorm room that these amorphous loans pay for. It’s an apartment that is my responsibility. It is my home.

This is at once a grand, majestic, and happy feeling; and an overbearing, immense, and powerful feeling. Of course I still had to have daddy co-sign the lease. There was no way around that. But I feel like for once in my life I’ve done something on my own. I’m becoming independent. When the rent check is due, it’s my responsibility. My dad will have nothing to do with it. And if he does, I’m in big trouble. It’s a tremendous sense of responsibility, and it leaves me with one thought; now all I need is a job.