Home Sweet Home Sweet Home Sweet Home

This is my second post for the Young Adult Years group of Mommy’s Piggy Tales. I missed a couple weeks, but I’m jumping back in!

In the 5 years I spent in college, I lived in 4 different dwellings, but the thing that remained constant was the people around me.


My high school sweetheart remained my boyfriend throughout our college years, but different goals and colleges meant we weren’t always local sweethearts. I started my college career in a residence hall. It was off campus, and privately managed, but housed only university students in a combination between dorm and apartment style suites. We had 5 girls in 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a living area. No kitchen, but we were allowed a mini fridge and a coffee pot. Cafeteria was downstairs, and our meals took place there. The cafeteria also had a handy sandwich bar for packing a brown bag lunch to take to campus. All of the girls I lived with got along reasonably well, and two of us had boyfriends, which meant the other two who shared rooms with us got space to themselves pretty frequently.


I developed a friendship with one of my suitemates, E, that remains one of my most treasured. E and I came from different backgrounds: I was suburban; she was city. I was public school; she was private. I was happily committed; she was happily playing the field. But we supported one another, confided in one another, and enjoyed becoming involved in the campus together. We both served in the student branch of the alumni association, we were both campus tour guides, and we both got jobs as writing tutors in the campus tutoring center. My boyfriend and I had decided we weren’t going to rush into moving in together, so E and I got an apartment in the little town adjacent to campus where we could feel more independent than we had in the residence hall but still have the security of each other.


The apartment was a two bedroom, and each of us got our own bath (yes, we were spoiled, but we did both have jobs…). It was part of a large complex, with a community pool. J spent a lot of time there and got along great with E. We grocery shopped, cooked for ourselves, were responsible for our own cleaning, and generally felt grown-up! During that year, E decided to rush a sorority and also applied to study abroad the following year. J and I decided we were ready to move in together, so we found a duplex away from the college parties where we had a little backyard patio and garden. We had parking permits instead of biking to school, but we never wondered if there’d be a spot when we got home, or how late the music would play at night. Unfortunately, we should have stuck to our original plan of college first, then start our life together, because J realized that he would need to transfer to another university which left me wondering: find another roommate for the duplex? Move back closer to the college? What next? E had just returned from Spain and moved in to the sorority house. I began inquiring as to her happiness with the situation: How do you like your suitemates? Ever wish you had more space? Still feel as close to them as when you left? It didn’t take much convincing on my part. As much as E felt connected to her sorority sisters, after living in the apartment with me for a year and then navigating a year of living abroad, she felt like the sorority house life was a step backward. She happily took over the duplex’s second bedroom and J’s portion of the rent. Yay!


We were happy in the duplex, and had no intention of going anywhere until graduation, but we were in for a surprise. E was spending the summer between our 4th and 5th years on an internship in New York. I was diving into full time teacher preparation. Incidentally, our academic timing matched up perfectly. She took 5 years for her B.A. thanks to a double major, a minor, and her year abroad. I got my B.A. in 4, then spent my 5th getting my teaching credential and M.Ed. But I digress. The plan was that I would sublet her room to one of my high school friends for the summer, and she’d come back to the duplex to finish up our final year together in the fall. Just weeks after my subletting friend moved in, we got notice from our landlords that they planned to sell the property and wanted us to vacate. Eeek! I called E, and her first response was: “Take me with you!” My high school buddy turned out to be a real trooper, not only packing up her summer belongings a second time, but helping to pack E’s as well. We found a condo nearby, and the property manager there cooperated with our situation and approved E’s rental application from afar.


So E came home to me again in the fall, albeit a new home. Our condo had upstairs bedrooms with views of the mountains and the pool. It was quiet, and there were many families surrounding us. In fact, one of the students in my first student-teaching assignment turned out to be my neighbor! When our 5th year came to a close, we both said goodbye to the condo, to the university, and to the city. She headed back to the contacts she’d made during her internship in New York. I headed back to my hometown to teach and settle down.


She and I continue to lead dramatically different lives. She’s currently working in Oxford, England, but still undecided as to which continent she’ll eventually settle on. Husband and/or kids? They’re still undecided too. I’ve got the house, the hubby, and the two kids, but I still claim to live vicariously through her exotic travels. E was in my wedding, loves my boys like an auntie, and still calls me for banana bread recipes. We’ve actually been in touch more since I became a stay-at-home-mom because she can call when she’s done with work and it’s mid-morning here. I’m hoping she settles back here on the west coast, but I’m not worried. I know our friendship will stand the test of time no matter how many thousands of miles are between us.