I left the care and comfort of my parents when I was 18, and I use the phrase 'care and comfort' to be polite. I was ready to be on my own at age sixteen, but life in a small town meant living with the folks until the end of high school. I drove off to Albuquerque to go to college in 1992, and more than fifteen years later, I still reside in this town. Until two weeks ago, I was living the bachelor life with other roommates, and one of them was always my brother Matt. It's been a fortnight since he left and my girlfriend Maria moved in, and I can officially say my bachelor days have come to an end.

In some ways, it is sad, but for the most part, I can say it's a relief. Once you've hit your thirties and still can't find one single woman you could tolerate living with, you start to feel like Henry Higgins. You don't think you'll ever find a woman partner, and more to the point, you don't even care if you do. The older men & women get, the more stuck in their bizarre patterns they become.

First, let's start with the perks of being a bachelor, because there are many: you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want & no one will tell you it's wrong. All the money you make, you get to spend on yourself. Disposable income is pretty fun at times. You can watch all the television programs you want, sleep whenever you want & of course think whatever you want. It's a pretty sweet deal, and I lived it for 15 years.

When I told a lady recently that it was all about to change, she asked me if I had ever lived with a woman before, and I replied "Not since my mama." Her eyes got big, and she said I was in for a rude awakening. She's not the only person who has warned of the impending doom of partnering up with a woman, but I just smile and nod. For one thing, I have been around the block a few times (I'm 33, not 23), and I do know what women are generally like. It's the reason it took me so long to find one I could really enjoy. I dated Maria for two years before I committed to living in the same house. Of course, we are expecting a baby girl at the end of August, so there was an immediate reason to call a close to my bachelor life.

I know it's only been a couple weeks, so we are in a honeymoon period of sorts. Maria is in the second trimester, which is called the 'golden period' of the pregnancy (less morning sickness and the baby isn't big enough to burden her too much). I must say, however, that things are going pretty well.

There are perks to living with a woman: someone else cooks me meals, sex occurs on an even more regular basis, I start and end my days with a kiss, I go on walks and have someone to stretch with, I am entertained much more by a live person as opposed to myriad of screens at my disposal, and there is a certain sense of purpose that has been lacking for many a year.

I still do many of the things I did before. I work the cab, smoke & drink on occasion, hang out with the fellas, and drift off into my own little thoughts for a while. I am a little more tired than I used to be. The money is set aside more for certain things here and there, but I learned to minimize my life a few years back.

Many of my artist friends see domestic life as death to creativity or something to fear, but I just look at it as a new chapter of my life. I've never been a traditional man, and I doubt domestication will change that. Maria is fourteen years younger than me, and that will never change. We are both trying this for the first time, so it is something new for both of us. No one understands why our relationship has lasted, but it has. Don't question what works.

So do I think it will work in the long run? Yeah, I really do. We have a baby girl named Donna Rose coming, and if there's one thing I know about living with others, it's better when you have a project to work on together. Maria is very easy to get along with, and our disagreements have been more silly than insidious. The transition has been quite pleasant so far.

So good-bye to the bachelor days, hello family life! Everyone is quick to tell me that a child is a twenty-year commitment, and there's a lot of responsibility, and this and that and the other. What they don't seem to realize is that I've already done the bachelor thing for fifteen years, and if I was going to make it big at anything, it had plenty of time to present itself. I really don't feel like holding out any longer for the unknown to occur. Maybe this was what I was waiting for in the first place.

Besides, I love the girl I live with, and I love the baby girl on the way. After all those years of hanging out with dudes, it's about time to love and live with a couple ladies.

Chris Jungle has always been insulted by the definition of a bachelor. Look it up.