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"WHAT A NICE BIG CLOSET!" I exclaimed as I walked into my younger daughter's studio apartment. She had just moved in to this teeny one room apartment and was most anxious for my response.
"It's not a closet, Mom," she sighed. "It's my apartment."
So this is what they call space, I thought. A mouse would feel claustrophobic in this place. It was small. Tiny. The rent was not. It was $950 plus utilities and phone.

"Isn't it a bit over your budget?" I asked.
"Not really. I have $20 a week left over," she said.
"That should cover your phone, insurance, food and fun money and whatever emergencies pop up," I said. I wasn't smiling.
"Don't worry about it," she said.
"Why should I worry?" I said as ten more gray hairs sprouted. Then I spun around. I was out the door. "Uh, where will you put your bed?" I asked. As far as I could see, the only room for it was midway between the kitchen and the terrace. Or out on the terrace.
"Oh, I'm not taking my bed," she said.
"Not taking your bed? If I'm not too nosy...where will you sleep?
"On my fold-away couch," she said.
I remember once sleeping on a fold-away couch. For a week I walked like Quasimodo.
"Fold-away couches are not spine friendly," I said.
"Oh, I won't be sleeping here that much," she said. "I'll be staying at my boyfriend's a lot." A chill ran up my spine. Her boyfriend's? I wasn't prepared for that.
I looked around the room, which took about ten seconds. "I only see two kitchen cabinets. Where will you put all your canned things and Oreo cookies?" I asked.
"I'm on a diet. I don't each much."
Then I pointed out the decrepit old stove. "Does this thing actually work?" I asked.
"Who knows," she shrugged. "Besides, I'll be eating out a lot or at my boyfriend's apartment."
And what about your TV, your computer,VCR and stereo? Where will they go? Don't tell me. Let me guess. Your boyfriend's place."
She nodded.
"Oh, I see. So you'll really be living at your boyfriend's place and this is just a weekend hide-away."
She became indignant. "I would NEVER live with a man unless I'm married to him," she said with annoyance. "As long as I'm single, I live alone!"
Truth is, she did live more at her boyfriend's place than her own apartment. It was her clothes that lived alone. And for them, it was a nice BIG closet.

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