Growing Up In a Strict Immigrant Household or Living Through a Pandemic?

Love you, mom! But the last year and a half really reminded me of what it was like growing up under your rules! Below, a few life rules I had to abide by in 2020 that were eerily similar to to when I lived at home.

xoxo Your Favorite Son

1. You’re not allowed to hang out with your friends.

2. There’s no chance that you’ll be able to go to the concerts, festivals, and sporting events that you desperately want to attend.

3. Dating is out of the question.

4. Strangers are suspicious of where you came from and how you got here. “No, where are you really from?”

5. Your household’s most prized possession is the Costco membership card. Procuring bulk goods like 120-count packs of toilet paper helps alleviate the sense of scarcity looming over you.

6. Going to restaurants is a rare occurrence.

7. Shoes must be left outside or removed immediately upon entering the house. Those soles are teeming with filthy pathogens!

8. Doctors are put on a pedestal.

9. You’re often somberly reminded that there’s no money to be made in writing.

10. People love to give you unsolicited advice based on “facts” gleaned from questionable sources.

11. It’s so unfair that you abide by restrictive rules that aren’t acknowledged by other swaths of society.

12. You love your mom, but also try to minimize contact with her so that you don’t end up killing each other.