The best things in life are always the ones you expect the least.
When it comes to my freshman year roommate, I've never been so happy to be wrong about someone. You see, when I embarked on the journey of finding a roommate, my immediate inclination was to find someone exactly like me. I'm a dancer, I'm from New York, I love art and music, and taking photos, I'm basically a hippie. So to be truthful, to think I would get along some so keenly with a blonde girl from Minnesota who has horses and listens to country music, it felt like a bit of a stretch.
Quite frankly I asked her to be my roommate reluctantly. I hadn't had much luck in my search and at that point I figured I might as well ask.
I expected absolutely nothing. In fact, I thought she would say no, because on paper there is no reason why we would get along. We couldn't be more different, and to this day I can still say that we are two completely opposite people, yet we connected not because of our materialistic interests, but because of who we are. It didn't end up mattering that we had completely opposite upbringings, or had different childhood pastimes, or that I spent my life surrounded by art culture while she spent hers out in the country. What matters is something so much richer than that. It's something so deeply rooted in our souls that drew us together.
We often discuss the meaning of a soulmate.
I believed for a long time that you only had one soulmate, and this of course would be the person you'll marry. I was so vastly incorrect. A soulmate is simply someone that you connect with on a deeper level. It's someone who will accept your differences, embraces who you truly are when you are unapologetically you. It's someone who doesn't care that you don't have the exact same taste in everything, but will celebrate those differences. It's that person that allows you to be the craziest, most real version of yourself. It's someone who just gets you.
What I love so much about my roommate is that we certainly acknowledged how different we were, but rather than try to conform to each other, we educated each other on the things we are passionate about.
She took to time to learn about my life as a dancer, listened to Tame Impala with me, and heard me out for hours about how amazing the pizza and bagels are in New York. I listened to her talk about how she spent her years with her horses in her cowboy boots, how she lived on a beautiful Minnesota lake, and how she loves country music. And through these wonderful conversations, we not only learned about each other, but we learned how our differences made us a stronger team. Our room: room 445, has become a beautiful synthesized mess of our eclectic passions.
My side is full of album covers, pictures of Manhattan and funky designs, and hers is a lovely collection of adventures, friends, country music and photos of her in her Jeep. It's so evident when you walk in how different we are. Yet our differences that once seemed so big, have become so subtle. Our unique idiosyncrasies complement one other in such a fascinatingly beautiful way. I'm constantly intrigued by the dynamic of our relationship. I suppose we're a yin yang at its finest. We balance one another out. Rather than our differences becoming a burden, it's really been a blessing. Together, we have fostered an environment that made our identities highlighted. We both can agree that because we lived together, we reached a deeper understanding of ourselves and who we are as individuals.
What I can say is that we have been there each other through every single up and down.
As a team, our strongest quality is that we support each other blindly. No matter what, I'm always there to listen to her, and she's always there to listen to me. Having her as a roommate has made me a better listener. And being a listener doesn't always imply that you're hearing someone, but rather it's allowing yourself to hear the needs of the world around you. To listen to when the world is aching and needs more kindness, or acknowledging the presence of the people who surround you.
Our friendship is based off of loving one another because of how different we are.
We feed off of each other's energy, and despite our interests being opposite, we turned out to be quite similar. In many ways it's as a result of this that we've undoubtedly made each other better people. More insightful, more philosophical, more empathetic. Just better.
Whether it be driving late at night in her Jeep to get McFlurrys, laughing for hours drinking wine, eating pizza, sitting on the top of parking garages, watching the sunset on the beach turn into a sky of beautiful stars, exchanging our favorite high school memories, talking about falling in love, or dancing to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Every moment we've shared has been a blessing.
I often have to remind myself that a year ago I was very skeptical of this girl from Minnesota. And a year later I have to remind myself that it's always the things in life you least expect that end up changing your world for the better. I seriously can't even begin to describe how lucky I feel to have found someone who is my biggest cheerleader in all of my endeavors.
To have someone to turn to on my worst days, to share heartfelt laughs with, and to have in my darkest and lightest moments.
I'm really glad I didn't judge this book by its cover. From the outside, she was a dubious choice of mine, yet this has been one of my favorite books to read. I suppose the moral of the story is to take chances on things, on people, on really everything. Life is full of fruitful surprises, twists and turns. Just because someone is culturally different, or looks different, or has different interests, you just never know who might become your best friend. I, for one, am making a vow to myself to approach life with this same open mindedness that we have given to each other.
So a big thank you to universe for creating an unlikely friendship that turned out to be so much more than anything I ever could've asked for, for giving me my future bridesmaid, and my best friend for life.
