Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home. – Bill Cosby

Well, I’ve moved back in with my parents. Kind of. My dad travels five days out of the week for work, and my mom recently got a summer condo in Lake City, Minnesota to be closer to her 90-year-old father so they’re mostly up there. While they aren’t physically around much, I’m back in their home.

I’m back in my childhood home with my pickle green walls adorned with high school mementos. To say it’s weird is an understatement. I am incredibly grateful to my parents for their continued to support and welcoming me back with open arms, a warm bed, and a fridge full of food. No, my ego isn’t bruised. No, I’m not ashamed to live at home. This is the new reality for recent college graduates, even those who were INCREDIBLY active at their school.

I am truly blessed. I have a great opportunity to intern at WGN Radio News in one of the greatest cities for memorable moments, great opportunities, and life-defining challenges — Chicago. I am still telecommuting at my old job for the next few months, which is allowing me to keep busy and continue bringing in part of my previous income.

It’ll take a few weeks to get adjusted to seeing Naperville not as “I’m going to visit my parents” but “I’m going home,” again. It won’t be my forever home, I know that. But it will be my home for now because of all the love and memories that have been experienced in it.

Don’t be ashamed to go back home. Don’t take your parents generosity for granted. Don’t sell yourself short — just because you’re 22 and living with your folks doesn’t make you a failure. Wouldn’t you rather be ready financially and emotionally to break out into the world and find your first real place than forcing it to happen, when, maybe, it really just isn’t meant to be at that moment.

So go home. Even if you do have that first big job with health benefits, dental included, go home. Home is what shaped you. Home is what supported you. Home is your family. Home is your friends. And as you build your first home, just remember the homes that built you.