The process of finding these great people who I am lucky enough to call roommates was an interesting process... I moved out of my shared house with my husband (now ex) in September, and I moved back home with my mom, brother, and sister-in-law. I was there for 3 months before my endearing brother came to me and told me that in order for us to still be friends I should move out. We'll forget the part that he's married, 23, and living with my mom... So, in hopes of preserving a relationship, I moved out.
Where do you start as a single, white female looking for a room to rent in a college town? Craigslist. And let me tell you, you get what you pay for. The ads were plentiful, but I wanted one room, hopefully with its own bathroom I didn't have to share, somewhere with easy access to the interstate, and clean with rent at about $500 per month. Luckily, I only looked at two places, and my current home was the second house I looked at.
The first one was a totally different situation that what I find myself in today... I called up the number, and a guy answered it saying he had a room for rent in a townhouse that was $385 per month. Under my budget - just meant more shoes for me to buy each month! I planned to meet him that night to look at it.
It's always a bad sign when you have to meet someone at a predetermined location, and then they have to lead you in to the neighborhood. I'm a farm kid that grew up living in 4 houses on the same road (aside from college), so suburbia is a new adventure unto itself. I met him at the entrance, and we began the labyrinth in to the house.
There's hardly a place to park, and I drive a small car! I squeeze in between a car with no wheels and a motorcycle, then walk to the font door where we pass a guy smoking. As long as people smoke outside, I'm fine. We pass by him, and my guide introduces me to Daniel (the smoker). Hardly a grunt is uttered.
Inside, we are met with the stench of smelly boy gym socks. You know the kind I'm talking about - the ones that barely survived the week-long beating they took during the Presidential Fitness Test. The carpet is dirty, the air is warm, and the lighting is dark. To say I felt like I was going to be raped would be a true statement. And I was contemplating living there!
We walked in to the living room where we found a couch full of boys. 6 to be exact. Fantastic. I have lived with boys before, and it has been a lot of fun. However 6 boys, all playing video games, is not my idea of a fun thing to come home to every day. I asked how many of them lived there, and 5 of the 6 raised their hands. Fantastic.
My guide then showed me upstairs to the bedroom I would be renting. It was the size of my parents closet, stinky, dirty, and there were no shoes in the world worth me living there one minute of my life. Just to top it off, my guide showed me the bathroom that I would be sharing with smoker Daniel, assuring me he was a clean guy. Hardly! It looked like a dorm room bathroom after Homecoming weekend. Again... No shoes worth it.
I quickly turned around, thanked my very kind guide, and hightailed it out of there as best I could. I think I drove past the house about 4 times as I attempted to exit the neighborhood. At least my car has really good locks on it...
The next day I started my search again with renewed hope that seeking a room where I paid the actual $500 per month would result in a much safer living situation. Yup. I was right. I pulled up to the house I live in, and I had a good feeling about it. Turns out that good feeling has stayed, and it just kept growing.
Over the past 5 months I have lived with three very cool people. I'm sure we all get on each other's nerves at points, but all in all we all really care about each other. These three have been with me through some crazy ups and downs, and I know that the time we have shared will always be a highlight for me. I'm incredibly blessed to have stumbled upon them on Craigslist, and I hope my adventures with them will continue even when we're not living together.
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