“Are you guys sisters?”
Lol. No.
“Are you guys related?”
Not at all.
“Were you friends before college?”
Nope.
“Did you know each other before college?”
Nah.
Some people don’t believe us when we say we found each other on Facebook. But I will forever be thankful that she messaged me first because my life has changed because of her.
“This year would have been so different if we weren’t roommates. You keep me sane,” she says.
“Girl, I think that about you every day,” I say.
I live on the Western border of Wisconsin, and she lives as close as you can get to the Eastern border of Wisconsin. I grew up in a town that has 45,000 fewer people than the town she grew up in. I am a reserved, shy listener while she is an outgoing, boisterous storyteller. I am musical while she is athletic. I have one little sister while she has three. I had never been to a Brewers baseball game until we became roommates, and she had never been to a rodeo until we became roommates.
But as time went by while living in our 10’x12’ box on campus, we learned we have many similarities. We are both blatantly sarcastic and have our own sense of humor—we have not gone a single day without laughing with/at each other. We both love country music and jam out to it when we are taking a cruise in her car. We are the most single people on campus and struggle to talk to boys we find attractive—then we laugh about it later. We love our families more than anything. We both love Jesus and have examined what we truly value while living out our first year in college. We both have creative minds and like to decorate our room and plan out our decorations for our future rooms. We talk about the futures we’ll have together and apart.
Once in a while, you’ll hear things like, “You’re weird," “I’m over you” and “I am going to kill you” in our room. I didn’t say we were perfect. I mean, we are human and no two people have the same habits. We can fight like a married couple sometimes. It takes so much respect, consideration and flexibility to room with someone you have never known before. But these slight frictions often end in laughter somehow. I think that’s what’s kept our relationship tight—we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and frowning is a foreign concept in our room.
People can see it too. She told me one time that someone said we were their favorite roommate duo. One of my friends said they admire our relationship. We drive each other nuts, but we still love each other. It’s hard to think of one of us without the other. I would not have half the friends I have now if it weren’t for her outgoing personality, and nearly all of my memories from my freshman year involve her. I have embarrassing stories to tell because of her (most of which have brought us closer *cough* because we didn’t mean to flash the other). I can confidently say that we have achieved what some people would call “roomie goals."
“If I'm not married yet, I better catch the bouquet at your wedding. And if you aren't married yet, you better catch the bouquet at mine. And if you don't, I'm gonna take it from the girl who caught it and give it to you."
And so I’ve come to the conclusion that my roommate is not just another friend or even a best friend. She is a different breed of friend, like a sister but different. I’m still coming up with a label, but for now, I just like to say that with the relationship we’ve built so far, it’s impossible for us to ever become strangers. While in our routine daily life, I often forget that I never knew her growing up—it feels like we've known each other much longer. Living with a person will do that to you.
