Roommates: Yesterday our daughter’s roommate joined her mother and I when we visited the two apartments. She had an Easter break which our daughter did not. There was a noticeable excitement in her face as we walked through the doorways of each apartment. Together the mom and daughter inspected closets and checked kitchen cabinets, chatting about views and a high ceiling in the living room. You could tell, this was becoming real.

Our Daughter: Later our daughter called and when I told her we had received the necessary funding for housing, she shrieked with excitement. These girls are ready!

Facebook’s Role: I asked the other daughter if the two young ladies Facebook much. She said “We try”. I know they chat a bit, with the occasional “I miss you”. Their time together has been limited to school vacations and though they have friends in common and attend similar schools, the real meat of their friendship will begin when they are domiciled together. Yikes!

Drama In The Dorm: The other mother and I think it will work but not without hiccups. “Drama In The Dorm”, our daughter’s favorite term, and least favorite school activity, is known to both young women. They have seen plenty of it in their years boarding with females. Fortunately, they have received training and counseling from skilled dorm counselors on how to handle the stressful times. “Conflict Corner” is the term our daughter’s school uses for a strategic process where the girls work through their differences. We can only hope that memory will serve when the proverbial ____ hits the fan. And new staff will be on board to facilitate, as well as the moms, naturally.

Inspection: On another note our case manager kindly emailed this list to us. Our realtor sees no problem with much of this so far.

DDS Rent Subsidy Property Inspection Basic Health and Safety Checklist:

A/C-D/C powered smoke detector: doable

Ground Fault Interrupt (GFI) outlet within 6′ of running water in kitchen: will check this out but assume it is a common safety feature.

Ground Fault Interrupt (GFI) outlet  “_________________ ” in bathroom: ditto

Two means of egress at minimum: Should be OK

Bottom of egress windows shall not be more than 44″ above the floor: we are bringing measuring tape next time we visit an apartment candidate.

Exterior doors do not operate with a key from the inside: easy

Exterior doors do not require more than 1 or both hands engaged in a single unlocking motion: sounds OK

Bedroom & bathroom door locks are equipped with a release device to unlock the door from exterior: doable

Closet doors are operable from the inside: doable

Electrical outlets/switches are covered: most doable

Now all we need is the apartment. These requirements hopefully are a no brainer.

©Jill Edelman, M.S.W., L.C.S.W 2011