Sometimes you get forced to live with people, and on rare occasions you end up being able to tolerate them. And on even rarer occasions, you become close with them, and your roommates become family. When you live with people long enough, things start happening that violate all social boundaries.
1.Your room is their room.
When you get close enough with your roommates, literal boundaries, like who’s bedroom is who’s, begin to break down. My roommates even spend time in my room when I am not home. The other day, I came into my bedroom to find one of my roommates sitting in my chair doing her makeup because “my mirror is nice”.
2.Your closet is their closet.
The next boundary that disintegrates is your closets. When you’re close with your roommates it’s like getting a whole new closet.
3. "Can I borrow this" turns into "I borrowed this".
Once the closet boundary is gone, roommates who are especially close eventually stop asking for permission to borrow things, like clothes. They almost always return it, but asking becomes a thing of the past.
4. You can be gross in front of them.
You know you are comfortable with your roommates when no longer care what you look like around them. You also feel free to belch and fart in front of them. My roommates and I have even reached the point where we no longer feel like it is necessary to lock (or sometimes even close) the bathroom door.
5. Pants are not necessary.
A true mark of friendship is being able to walk around your home while you are not fully clothed.Who likes pants anyway?
6. You watch the same shows.
One of the most frustrating, yet wonderful, things that happens when your are extremely close with your roommates is that you start watching shows together. It is great to have someone to watch your favorite new series with, but you are now obligated to wait for them to come home before you can continue watching it.
7. You’ve taken a nap in their bed.
Sometimes they're there, and sometimes they're not. I honestly don’t even have a valid explanation for this one. It just, sorta, happens.
8. You feel lost when they are gone.
When your roommate goes home for the weekend, you feel abandoned. You just sit at home, alone, wondering when they will come back.
9. You get all the weird questions.
Close roommates trust each other to be honest and nonjudgmental, so we often end up with the questions like, “Is this to much cleavage?”or, "Is it bad if you can see my underwear?". You also do all the weird things for them that are not generally socially acceptable. It's all apart of the package.
10. You start talking like them.
It is so easy to pick up your roommates speech patterns. You sound like them, and may even adopt their trademark phrases.
11. You know their schedule better than they do.
You know when they should be home, when they are at work, what class they are at, when they eat lunch etc. To some, it may even seem like you have become their own personal stalker. You may even have a color coded calendar in the living room. No? Just us? Okay.
12. People question your relationship.
You are very close and comfortable with each other, and if you are anything like my roommates and me, you have very little personal space, even in public. As my own roommate says,”Are you really best friends if people don’t question your sexuality?”
They're the people you go to with literally everything, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I love my roommates to death, and I know they will be there for me through everything. They bring out the best in me, and I know they will be my go-to people for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
