To My Freshman Roommate,
It's two years later, and there are so many things in my life I have you to thank for. I am thankful that you and I did not get along. I am thankful for the nights I spent trying to sleep, while you studied with all the lights on. I am thankful for being locked out of my room in a towel…weekly. I am thankful for your boyfriend sleeping over every night, when all I wanted was a little peace. Most of all, I am thankful for being told I am a horrible roommate.
I need to thank you for these things, and for giving me a challenge my first semester of college. It would have been too easy to come to a new place, filled with new people and have a roommate who I got along with. I thank you for forcing me to learn how to deal with people who are unlike myself right off the bat. While I tried to talk to you about our problems, and tried to be quieter when I came home and tried to say hello when I walked in the door, our situation escalated as you took to twitter to rant about me, even though I followed you.
I am grateful that you did so, because if you did not I would not have moved out second semester, into a new dorm filled with friendly faces, some of which are now my best friends. I have you to thank for the roommate I now share my dorm with, and for the two girls next door who will be my roommates for the next two years, and best friends for life. These girls are the ones I was meant to share my life with at my home away from home.
I am so thankful that you judged me like a book, because now I know the type of people I would like to be surrounded with. I am overjoyed to have learned that filtering out negativity is important, and that it may be as easy as clicking the “unfollow” button. Knowing this has only increased my happiness here at school, and enhanced my life in a way you never could have.
I am thankful to you for judging me for where I come from, because I now understand that only opinions about me that matter, are my own.
I can not thank you enough for showing me that walking away from a problem is not always the worst solution. You taught me that sometimes trying to fix a problem causes more harm than it can be worth. Fighting for what you want is brave, but knowing when to stop fighting is wise. Thank you, my freshman roommate, for making me wise.
Finally, thank you making sure that I will never fear a new roommate for as long as live. Shedding this fear encouraged me to travel abroad alone, to Indescribable parts of the world. I am no longer the scared high school freshman, worried about the roommate I will have. I now know that no matter what happens, it will be better than the Fall of 2014. This opens so many doors for me to be open to new friends, and expand my list of people I care for in this world.
Thank you, freshman roommate, for giving my list the space it needed to grow.
I will be forever grateful,
Emily
