Dear Non-Roommate Roommate,

Contractual roommate agreements may not list you as an official roommate, but we all know that a contract isn’t necessary to see you as another roommate. Basically from day one you were a constant visitor. We got used to you coming to say hi or hang out almost every day. Then we learned which days we might not see you because of your schedule, and not long after, which specific times you wouldn’t be visiting. It even got to the point where we knew exactly what times you would show up from day to day. The 10:30 p.m. non-roommate roommate visit and homework break became predictable. When someone knocked, we assumed it was you. And it’s still that way.

There are moments that can be considered roommate moments. Since you’re around so often, you experience them too. You hear the random comments like, “we really need to vacuum” and “we should go to bed soon.” You spend time with us laughing hysterically late at night when everything just becomes hilarious. You comfort us when we’re sad and when some things are not going as planned. You pretty much see us in all of our forms throughout the day. Roommates get to know each other in a way that some other people might not know them. Since you’re in our room so often, you do too.

You may not live in our room, but you might as well tell people that you do. You’re completely comfortable walking in like the room is yours. You know you can sit and lay on our beds and take over our desks if we’re not using them. You can ask for food and know we’ll give you some. And you spread your stuff out so that it looks like it belongs in the room and that you live in the room. Asking for permission to use our stuff is definitely preferable, but you know the answer will pretty much always be yes. You can always sleep over if you want or need to. You’re welcome in our room. It can be your second home away from home if you want.

Just like any roommates, we might get frustrated with each other. Dorm rooms are small and sometimes the etiquette for sharing a room with others is forgotten. Work is pretty much ever-present and any distraction seems escalated. Sometimes we get in each other’s space a little too much, distract each other too much, and generally get annoyed with each other. But that happens sometimes, and that’s OK.

So thank you. Thank you for distracting us when that’s exactly what we need. Thank you for giving us words of encouragement when it’s late at night and we’re stressed. Thank you for accepting us as we are in all of our many ways. Your constant visits are not only expected but also welcomed and loved. You are the non-roommate roommate we never knew we wanted.

Sincerely,

The Roommates That Love You