Having roommates is not easy. We all have horror stories of people we lived with.

And while I do have a few bad stories to tell, I have even more good ones because (for much to short of a time) I had THE BEST roommates.

Roommates I didn’t want to leave after graduation.
Roommates I miss living with TO THIS DAY.

It was my senior year of college, and my best friend Erika and I had finally synced up our living situations…we found a great three-bedroom duplex a meere five blocks from campus. What campus? Why the University of Nebraska in Lincoln of course!

We needed a third, so a friend of ours, a boy named Josh, moved in. Let me just say, boys make great roommates! They save the drama for their mamma no one. There is no drama when it comes to boys. But Josh, with dedication and determination, joined the Marines. So we began our search again.

That’s when we heard that Amanda needed a new place to live. Amanda is from Gering, Nebraska (Scottsbluff’s rival high school) but we forgave her that and asked her to be our roomie. Now, I didn’t really know Amanda. I knew of  her, as you do when you are in high school, but had barely ever had a conversation with her. Erika promised me she was great. And I always trust Erika’s judgement.

Thus began the best living situation a college senior could ask for.

The three of us had uber-tons of fun together, all the time. Whether we were hitting up The Watering Hole for Pennie Pitchers and karaoke on a Thursday night (AKA Cheap Beer Night), pulling together 80′s outfits just to laugh, or waking up early to watch reruns of Dawson’s Creek and Saved By the Bell together (like every day) before class, it was all one of the best times of my life.

Amanda, Me, and Erika. I still have that sweatshirt.

I had to scan these photos in…we didn’t have digital cameras in college!

A quick shot from across a bar…one of my favs

When graduation approached, I got engaged (which the girls helped to execute) and was moving to St. Louis with Stu, Erika set her sights on Denver, and Amanda had more things to do in Lincoln. Moving-out day I cried so hard it hurt. Yes, I was excited to be moving in with my future hubby, but I did not want to leave my fabulous roommates!

Today, Erika is still living in Denver and loving it. You’ve seen her on the blog before. And after living in Loveland, CO for a while, Amanda moved to Vegas (of all places!) to continue working for Nike. And I, of course, live in Alexandria, VA. Between text messaging, Facebook, and the occasional visit, we’ve stayed in touch throughout the years.

What made me want to write about this, you ask?

I arrived home from my trip to find a package on the dining room table. I saw the return address and remembered a text from Amanda saying she was sending a belated baby gift. When I saw the orange box, I got really excited! Because this is what she sent:

HOW CUTE ARE THESE!???!

Leave it to the NIKE employee and fashion-guru to send such adorable kicks. They are still too big at this point (which did not stop me from jamming Ethan’s little tootsies in them), but I cannot wait until they fit. He loves them already—even though he thinks they are teething toys.

These shoes are going to go so perfectly with his very sweet P.Diddy-like track suit…once he grows into it:

And yes, we are going to let him go shirtless with this outfit. The chicks will totally dig it.

Thank you Amanda, not only for the very thoughtful gift, but for the rush of memories that had to put on paper. If it weren’t for Stu, I’d live with you and Erika forever. (Today, Today, Today…)

I guess the moral of this post is: Cherish your time with your girlfriends. Once you get married/move across the country, it’s never quite the same as it was when you lived together—in a bitchin pad on U Street.

 

 

 

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