I remember when I was a young girl, and my biggest dream was to live next door to my best friends. They lived across town, so whenever we wanted to see each other we’d have to get our parents to drive us back and forth. I thought life would be so much easier if I could just run next door and be able to see my friends at any given moment of the day. But alas, my dream never came true.
Until now.
For the last seven months I have been living with five fabulous friends in an adorable house in Nashville, Tennessee. We came from all over the country-California, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio-and we each have our own bizarre story of how we ended up in Nashville. These stories would take far too long to explain in their entireties, but let’s just say they range from one roommate winning a car on the Price is Right to another roommate biking across the United States of America. It is because of these stories and more that the six of us ended up together.
For seven months I’ve learned nonstop about love, friendship, community, and sacrifice. In essence, I’ve learned how to live with a group of people. My patience has been tested countless times-I never knew something as silly as the temperature of the thermostat could throw me into such a frenzy, or that a couple of dirty dishes could make me turn into a female version of the incredible hulk. But it was because of these silly situations that I slowly began to get over myself, and actually put others first. I suppose it’s that whole golden rule thing, or whatever it was we learned way back in second grade Sunday school class. Let me tell you, it’s much easier to say you’ll “do unto others” as opposed to actually doing unto others.
It’s a beautiful thing, putting someone before yourself. It seems that most of the time it comes back full circle. Like the time I needed a ride to work because my car wouldn’t start, so my roommate Raphe drove me. Then the next week he needed a ride, and I was able to take him. My roommates and I have had such a ridiculous amount of car troubles-we’ve all driven each other around so much and lent each other our cars so often that our cars hardly feel like our own anymore.
We literally share everything with each other-cars, food, money, clothes, computers, cell phones, blow dryers, water bottles, blankets, towels, toothpaste, Q-tips-you name it, we share it. We don’t just share amongst ourselves, however–our home is open to almost anyone who needs a place to stay. We’ve had a constant flow of guests since we moved in-including family, friends, a newlywed couple on their honeymoon (we’d never met them before), and a mother of five whose husband kicked her out. It’s become normal to walk in the door and see someone camping out on our couch.
It’s incredible to think how much we’ve experienced together in only seven months. We’ve celebrated a marriage and a bunch of birthdays; we’ve survived job losses, boyfriend breakups, and emotional breakdowns-we’ve seen the very best and the very worst of each other. You see, that’s the problem with living in community. You can’t hide anything. But that’s also the beautiful thing about living in community-you have other people to call you out on your crap, and consequently help you deal with your crap.
Living with my best friends was just as good as I thought it would be. No-it was better. Every single day was an adventure. There was the time I came home from work and found our living room had turned into a gigantic fort (it stayed like that for a month-and yes, we slept in it every night), there was the night that Stephanie and her boyfriend broke up, so we dragged her mattress into Erin and my room (it’s been there ever since), the day we discovered the guy who mows our lawn is the winner of a reality TV show, there were family dinners and roommate nights, notes left on the bathroom mirror, falling asleep talking to each other, Dairy Queen runs, Dawson’s Creek marathons, endless rounds of Settlers of Catan, fighting about the sweet potato patties in the freezer, befriending Chris from Kroger, late night walks, hiking to a waterfall on Earth day, getting tattoos together, laying out in our kiddy pool, cursing under our breaths as we try to unlock the front door, and so on and so forth…
We weren’t perfect. We had our fights, we talked about each other, and we were annoyed and insensitive at times. But it was through our faults that we were able to fully experience the redemptive quality of Jesus Christ. He redeemed us over and over and over again.
My roommates have played an integral role in my World Race preparations. They have been my number one fans-doing whatever they can to make it possible for me to go. They’ve taken off work to help me with a Saturday afternoon car wash, they’ve donated furniture and clothes to help me with a yard sale, they’ve bought me gear, they’ve spread the word to their friends, they’ve given me money each month (and will continue to do so), and they’ve prayed for me. But what may be the biggest role they’ve played in my World Race preparation is teaching me how to live and love in community.
Raphe, Tiffany, Stephanie, Erin, and Deynsha…I love you.
