When's it Time to Live on Your Own?

It was in the news Friday that a mother in Italy won a court order to evict her two sons, age 40 and 42, from her house. She complained they were "parasites" who contributed nothing, either in money or time, to the upkeep of the house. The men maintained that Italian law requires parents to support children as long as necessary. A judge agreed that there is a reasonable limit. Example news coverage: CNN article, 27 Oct 2023.

What's interesting to me in the article cited above is a mention of EU data showing that, on average, Italians move out of their parents' home at age of 30. Wow. Even compared the US, with the narrative of the "boomerang" generation of young adults, that's late. Age 30 is not even the highest age of dependency in the EU; Croatia average is 33.4 years. It's also not the lowest. In Finland, Sweden, and Denmark young adults move out on their own at 21 on average.

This got me wondering, what is the average age of adults moving out of their parents' house in the US? Hard numbers are hard to find. One article I found cited a government study from 1997. The US Census only breaks it down by age groups, the youngest being 18-24 year olds. Census data shows 55% of 18-24 year olds have moved out. Thus the average (median) age of independent living is younger than 24. Maybe it's... 22?

I moved out at age 21, after college graduation and a summer at home working a short professional job before attending graduate school. When I left for grad school it was more or less a permanent move. I mean, I moved 3 times in 3 years after that, but that was when my mindset shifted from "I go home for summers and breaks" to "Home is now where I live, and maybe a few times a year I visit my parents."

My three sisters all moved out around age 22-23. They all married college sweethearts not long after graduating. There's a lot more impetus to move out when you're starting your own family. One sister actually moved out of our parents' house at age 19 over their refusal to acknowledge a health concern. After getting engaged she moved in with her fiancé at his parents' house, and the two of them lived there for a year or two after college graduation.

Booster Shot(s) Side Effects

Since getting my Covid booster and flu shot yesterday I've been feeling side effects. In the past I started feel achy 24-28 hours after the shots, so I figured I'd feel crummy this evening on through midday tomorrow. Nope! This time I got the side effects sooner. They kicked in around the 12 hour mark this time.

I woke up early this morning with body aches all over. I felt like yesterday I did... something strenuous, and way too much of it. I tossed and turned trying to get back to sleep before dozing off until 10:15am. To be fair, 10:15 wasn't as late as it sounds considering I was up until almost 1am from the night before.

I had aches all over once I got out of bed this morning. I tried a few pills of acetaminophen with breakfast. The pharmacist recommended that yesterday in case I had muscle aches as a reaction. The pills did nothing. I gradually canceled all the plans I had for today, opting to stay home instead. It's not like I had a lot of plans; but it was still a bummer to have to call out sick on them.

Around 1pm I went out for lunch and a few errands. With lunch I popped a handful of ibuprofen pills. Those worked much better than the acetaminophen. Within an hour I was feeling a lot better. I wasn't like, "Oh, boy, I want to go out and do stuff all day!" but at least I wasn't thinking, "Ugh, I just want to lie in bed and groan."

The aches came back late this afternoon as the pills wore off. I was achy and tired and thought about settling down for a nap. Instead I found a quiet activity I could do. That kept me occupied for two hours. Then I fixed myself a small supper. With another few ibuprofen pills in my system now (I only take them with food as they've caused upset stomach on an empty stomach before) I feel halfway reasonable again.

At this point I hope the side effects have largely run their course. I'll continue taking it easy tonight, get to bed at a reasonable hour, and aim to have a normal weekend day tomorrow.

BTW, as not-fun as this day of aches has been, I'd rather go through this several times than suffer even one mild case of Covid.