Moving is hard. Staying is easy. Logistically speaking, at least. And this is true whether you're doing or undoing something.

Some people can work amid chaos or conversations, and some can't - and while there's no doubt an element of brain wiring to it, there's also the possibility of acquiring skills that improve your focus.

I think we'd all hate to be the one who gets declared undateable by one's entire grad-school population based on a couple of told and retold stories.

If you're not sure what you want, then hold back from making plans or responding to invitations until you have a chance to think about it.

There has been, for some reason (or more likely an unfortunate accumulation of reasons) a trend over the past several decades for parents to do the work of parenting in the isolation of their own homes - and not only that, this trend has overlapped with the other trend of much deeper parent involvement in raising kids. That you also represent trend No. 3, more people raising kids solo, has only exacerbated a close-to-no-win situation.

Separation is where you see if it works better with the adults in two different homes.

Awkwardness is when there's a risk of a perception gap between what you mean and what you appear to mean.