The Great Roommate Search: 1
So a few weeks ago, my roommate up and left. So freaked out was she by her brief time in Northern California, that she literally threw what she could fit into her car and hightailed it back east, leaving me with an extra - fully furnished, mind you - bedroom that must suddenly be filled. And so begins my great roommate search of 2008. I have a feeling I'll encounter several interesting characters before it's all over. And tonight it's just begun.
Yesterday I answered an ad in the Craigslist "Housing Wanted" section that had been placed by a 64-year-old Yogi named Laurelyn who was looking for a month-to-month sublet in the Marin County area. There was something about the transitional stage that she has taken on at this point in her life that intrigued me, so I sent her a message with a brief description of my offerings. She answered back that the situation just might work, and we arranged an evening visit.
She got out of her two-door Rav-4 with a shock of orange-ish hair pulled back in a clip and carrying a sporty hiker-ish purse. She seemed friendly enough, not too hippy-ish, and had that slower rhythm to her speech that made you realize that she thought carefully about everything that she said, and everything that she heard. It was one of those paces that sometimes unnerve me, because I'm not exactly used to having someone look straight at me for that long.
She came inside and slowly looked around, drinking in the apartment as if she was really paying attention to her surroundings and feeling our the vibe of the whole place. I nervously told her a bit of my situation, and she shared a bit of hers as well. She owns a home north of here that is much too big for her, so she rents it out and lives partially off of that income. She had been renting a place of her own until recently moving to Boulder for a few months to help nurse a terminally ill friend. Now that she is back she is listening to herself and figuring out where her life will take her next.
She is not weird. She is not lonely. She is not married. Again, I was fascinated by someone her age being in this kind of transition, and embracing rather than running from it. She seemed to like me well enough, but I'm not sure if she thinks that she will be the best fit here. Me, I'm on the fence. It might be neat to live with and learn from someone like this for a couple of months, or she might get old fast. Case in point - when I mentioned that my boyfriend and I love to cook, she looked at me hard and asked if I was going to marry him, in that not-nosy way that only older people can pull off because they have lived long enough to get away with it. When I nervously stammered that I'd only been dating him for a little over a month and that it was too soon to tell she paused only for a second before looking me up and down and saying, "That doesn't matter. You know." My heart skipped and my stomach dropped and I quickly changed the subject, thinking to myself that this woman was either comfortingly or scarily wise.
I'm not sure if she will end up here or not, but one thing is for sure - I'm starting to get more and more excited about this whole interviewing roommates process. It is bound to be entertaining.
Yesterday I answered an ad in the Craigslist "Housing Wanted" section that had been placed by a 64-year-old Yogi named Laurelyn who was looking for a month-to-month sublet in the Marin County area. There was something about the transitional stage that she has taken on at this point in her life that intrigued me, so I sent her a message with a brief description of my offerings. She answered back that the situation just might work, and we arranged an evening visit.
She got out of her two-door Rav-4 with a shock of orange-ish hair pulled back in a clip and carrying a sporty hiker-ish purse. She seemed friendly enough, not too hippy-ish, and had that slower rhythm to her speech that made you realize that she thought carefully about everything that she said, and everything that she heard. It was one of those paces that sometimes unnerve me, because I'm not exactly used to having someone look straight at me for that long.
She came inside and slowly looked around, drinking in the apartment as if she was really paying attention to her surroundings and feeling our the vibe of the whole place. I nervously told her a bit of my situation, and she shared a bit of hers as well. She owns a home north of here that is much too big for her, so she rents it out and lives partially off of that income. She had been renting a place of her own until recently moving to Boulder for a few months to help nurse a terminally ill friend. Now that she is back she is listening to herself and figuring out where her life will take her next.
She is not weird. She is not lonely. She is not married. Again, I was fascinated by someone her age being in this kind of transition, and embracing rather than running from it. She seemed to like me well enough, but I'm not sure if she thinks that she will be the best fit here. Me, I'm on the fence. It might be neat to live with and learn from someone like this for a couple of months, or she might get old fast. Case in point - when I mentioned that my boyfriend and I love to cook, she looked at me hard and asked if I was going to marry him, in that not-nosy way that only older people can pull off because they have lived long enough to get away with it. When I nervously stammered that I'd only been dating him for a little over a month and that it was too soon to tell she paused only for a second before looking me up and down and saying, "That doesn't matter. You know." My heart skipped and my stomach dropped and I quickly changed the subject, thinking to myself that this woman was either comfortingly or scarily wise.
I'm not sure if she will end up here or not, but one thing is for sure - I'm starting to get more and more excited about this whole interviewing roommates process. It is bound to be entertaining.
posted by Erin at
11:20 PM
3 Comments:
"And I KNOW this ain't gonna work out. See ya!"
My roommate advice (after living through hell last year) is to listen to your gut about how you might live together.
Dude, if it was August-I SO would be your roommie right now. BUMMER!
God luck with the freaks and geeks! :)
Hmmm... August? Who is this?
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