CINDY, INCIDENTALLY:

After almost 10 years of not living with the ’rents — I’m back.

Before you judge me, this is a temporary “get on my feet, save some money, figure out my life” decision that makes sense to me as a responsible, rational adult.

Man, I had no idea what I was getting myself into here.

You know that cliché “You can never go home again.” Well, there’s some truth to that in a way I never imagined.

My mother, God love her, seems to have forgotten that I am not 15.

This means that my curfew is not 10 p.m. I like boys and I have lived on my own for the past decade, which means I know how to wash dishes, do my laundry, lock the door and make dinner.

It has been an adjustment for both of us and has put a strain on our relationship as we try to find common ground as mother and grown daughter.

We peaked a few weeks ago, when she called me while I was out with a friend.

The conversation went something like this:

“Are you coming home tonight?” mother asks.

“Um, yeah, it’s only 7:30 p.m.,” annoyed daughter says.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have a cat, since you like to go out a lot, she’s home alone all the time,” mother jabs.

“She’s a cat, Mom, she has no concept of time,” daughter rolls her eyes at friends and makes obscene gesture.

“Oook ... well, come home soon, because she keeps staring out the window looking for you,” mother says with expert guilt tone.

“OK. Fine. I’ll be home by 10,” daughter secedes, realizing she will not win argument.

After this odd power struggle, I asked a few friends who had moved in with their parents at a certain point in their life, to find out if my mother was insane.

Turns out, she’s totally normal.

I found the book “Boomerang Nation,” by Elina Furman, www.boomerangnation.com, which is a survival guide for 20- and 30-somethings, who have taken the plunge and moved back in with Mom and Dad.

Boomeranger: (noun) An adult child, who returns home to live with his or her parents, makes up the nearly 18 million 18- to 35-year-old Americans currently living at home, according to Furman.

She says adults moving back home is actually a “rapidly growing phenomenon … for many college graduates (and young adults) looking for a rent- and hopefully hassle-free way to get out of debt and strategize their futures.”

Well, glad to hear this is a phenomenon and not just a reflection of a poor college major choice I made years back.

Getting an apartment is an absolute a priority, but figuring out my life strategy is No. 1.

So until that happens I guess I’m living at home, rent free, but not stress free.

I’ll just have to follow her terms. Maybe that means no late nights, more family dinners and a lot of quality time with the cat, of course, since she’s about to call Animal Services on me.

CINDY ARORA is a freelance writer for the Independent.