More than just a room

For every year of the '90's and the first six months of the year 2000, there was no point where I didn't have a roommate. I was always living with between one and five other people. But, in that grand step of Getting Older, I struck out on my own, finally having a place to myself. And while I was extremely lucky with almost all of my roommates¹, I loved living by myself, taking on the entire responsibility of a living space. I had control over the TV, could fully retreat when I was in a bad mood, and knew exactly whose fault it was when the fridge wasn't cleaned out.

But there was a lot that I missed about having a roommate, and I didn't realize just how much I missed it until last week, when my dear little sister stayed with me before moving out of town. Watching the Today show with her in the morning, discussing whatever big news or pop culture crossed the screen, having her make me cups of tea, even waiting for her to be done with the bathroom: I realized that I really missed all of these things about always having someone around. I love my alone time, and I love my time out with friends, but it's that time in between that's often the most fulfilling, the part you get with living with someone close to you. Of course it's easy to romanticize having a roommate when it's only temporary, but I love being able to share those little daily moments with someone.

2006 has been a year of goodbyes for me. Three people who I shared the little parts of my life with left my daily life: one to a breakup and the other two to world travels. So it meant a lot to me to have a little extra time with my sister before she left, not out to dinner one night or in one of an long stream of goodbye parties, but just in sharing our morning and nighttime routines, sharing our daily moments.

I can't say I'm really longing for a roommate again, but it was a reminder that there's a little something that I miss by living by myself. I would consider getting a dog, but the chances of me finding a dog that has political opinions and can shout out the answers to The World Series of Pop Culture with me are pretty slim.

¹ Extra big smooches to the best former roomies/frequent readers a guy/blogger could have: Hans, Xtian and Susan.