For anyone who has experienced living with a roommate, I think we can all agree that living with someone can be fabulous, joyous and fun. However, I will not be talking about the rainbows and butterflies of living with someone. You know, the late night chats and the building of forts in the living room? No no, I want to talk about pet peeves, frustrations, disagreements and the compromises.
Let me start from the beginning….
My brother, Tony. He would leave the seat up (as many boys do).He would leave his towel on the floor, which wasn’t too bad of an issue until it started to smell. We could never agree on anything to watch: I wanted MTV and he wanted the Simpsons. I was filing my nails too close to him and he yelled at me and made me cry.
I moved to college and lived with a girl in what-felt-like a 10x10 foot room. I would leave to take a shower and would come back to a dark room… left to stumble around dripping wet, searching for my desk lamp. She would eat my food. She would invite people over to watch ridiculous television. I came in one morning to find a boy in my bed. I did not put him there. When I went to check-out at the end of the year, I found melted ice-cream smeared all over my desk. Her last word.
I got to choose my roommates after that. Two of my best friends and then a random person none of us had met. This new girl liked to make macaroni&cheese and leave the cheesy pot sit in the sink for days. Her boyfriend would stay over. Every.Single.Night. He was always there; we all felt we had a fifth roommate. They even took showers together. One night we smelled an illegal drug coming from her bedroom. This wouldn’t have been too big of an issue if we weren’t in campus housing. She was a mean girl.
Currently, my roommate just happens to be someone I am in love with. This comes with its many benefits, but of course its challenges. Luckily, he puts the seat down religiously. I want him to eat my food. I want him to always be there. We agree on the age-old question of Over vs. Under. He loads the dishes, I unload them. Luckily, we both love baseball and football, so watching games is never in question. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t had our adjustments and readjustments. When Noah cooks, he cleans as he goes. I feel like I am doing enough as it is (i.e., cooking) and will worry about the cleanup later. This is a little gross to admit, and only my mother will know why I do this, but: I don’t always flush the toilet. It’s an old habit from growing up with a chronic septic tank/ flooding issue. Noah's towel does gets a little smelly, and I do wish I got the remote a little more often.
Fortunately, I have learned two things from my roommate experiences, the good and the bad: 1) communicating about the frustrations, as well as the appreciations is oh so important. 2) Compromising is the only way to come to a sustainable solution. If I would have told my first college roommate what was bothering me, I might have walked through the dark in a towel alot less. She might have left a light on for me.
And just so you know... I'm remembering to flush the toilet.
I’ve shared my horrific roommate experiences…what are yours?
