Why My Roommate Is Better Than Yours

There is a stranger in my house. And I let her in. I helped her unload her bags and walked her around the neighborhood and gave her keys.

Friday, I welcomed a new roommate. It is temporary, a sublet, only for a few months. But still. It signifies something larger that will be changing in my life. My roommate of 4 years (who felt old after writing that…?) will be moving on to the next step in her life. I will be moving on, as well, but just down the street. Since she is right now in Africa for work for a few months, and I have a stranger in my house where my friend used to be, I thought I would write a post in honor of her.

My roommate is wonderful in great, little, small, excellent ways. Here are my favorites:

Hugging before bed rule: Our first few months in DC were wrought with confusion, tears, frustration, excitement and recent-college-grad-20-something angst. At that point we realized that if we were going to survive here, we had to do it together. So, we enacted a hugging rule in our apartment. Every night before bed, you have to hug. This has begun to apply to guests, but mostly, it is for us. So that at the end of the day whether it was the most trying or the shiniest day, we knew there was a hug at the end of it. Someone saying that no matter what, even if we are fighting, even if I leave the dishes in the sink and you haven’t showered after biking home, I love you. And I am going to show you that. Every. Day. Call it cheesy. But you know you wish you had that guarantee, too. Well, you do. Just come on over.

Cleaning: One could say I receive love well through acts of service (love languages anyone?). I admit that I am likely not the easiest person to live with (hi new roomies—don’t read this part, I’m awesome. You will love me). I ask for things like closing the shower curtain after every shower, making sure the dish towels are folded (and clean!) when hung on the oven door, that the knob in the shower is turned in a downward direction so that when I am showering at 5 am the water hits my feet first, not my face unexpectedly (does anyone else hate that?!). And she does it. She listens to my weird idiosyncrasies and remembers them and follows them. Who does that? Awesome. Also, she takes it a step further. One night, I had 6 people over for dinner when she was out. We headed straight to the bar for a few drinks after dinner with little clean up. I roll in well after midnight and the place is spotless. She cleaned up MY mess. Amazing.

Blenders: She likes to make smoothies in the morning. They include special, fun, healthy things for her high cholesterol—which annoys her greatly and rightfully as she exercises practically daily and never met a vegetable she didn’t like. So, one morning when MY friends are sleeping on the couch, I wake up and she is gone. As I pass her room I see a blender on the floor. She took the blender into her room so as not to disturb MY guests.

Seriously. Does it get much better than this? No. Until we spontaneously do a double jumping high five in the kitchen or on the Frisbee field (you had to be there).

However, I doubt I will have to sacrifice much with my new roommates. The first question they asked me after I committed to moving in was: what would you like your theme to be for your housewarming party? Also, they have a roof deck. On which they built a garden.