Good Roommates Are Mana from Heaven

"If you had to say you hated someone, who would it be?"


This is was a real question asked of an Education Week class I attended last year.

"Just let your mind relax into it; surely someone's name or image will come to your minds."

There was a point to that exercise, but I'm just going to leave it at that and dwell on the fact that of all the people I've met IN MY LIFE, the only person that I could possibly fit into the "hate" category would be a former roommate of mine. An "EX-roomie", if you will. There were times during my stint with him that I would hide in my room because I couldn't stand being in his presence; I was worried that exposure to the cloud of gloom and pessimism that surrounded him would overcome me and I would slit my own wrists.

Who knew that my roommates would have such influence over me?

I am Seriously, So Blessed to have had terrific roommates my entire Provo career. Some were obviously better than others. One thing I'm especially thrilled to announce

I prayed this last week that the Lord would have mercy on me and bless me with positive roommates that did their dishes. Those were, pretty much, my only two conditions.

Guys. Prayer works. The odds were totally against me, but having just spent a week with three, amazing, new roommates, I can confidently say that this is going to be my greatest Summer EVER in Provo!

Roommates

1. Derek - BYU student from South Jordan with two jobs. Off to the Philippines this week with his mission buddies for 2 1/2 weeks.

2. Brian - UVU transfer student from St. George who works at a plasma "donation" center. He happens to be good friends with Dan Segmiller (who lived in Brian's room last Summer when I moved in.)

3. Tron - (Yes, I said Tron.) Brian's former roommate from SLC. He's thinking about selling security systems this Summer; we may only have him a little while longer.

Memories from the week

* We all went to Jay's Jungle to by aquatic animals for the apartment. Crazy, Animal-Activist Jay took one look at us and refused to sell us 4 of his $0.15 feeder fish. "They're all spoken for."

* We have apartment prayer each night and I taught them "Gunnies" [a non-biased game that selects who will offer the prayer that night.]

*Grocery shopping at Target with Derek. He was hilarious because he insisted that Target and Albertson's were "WAY less expensive than Macys". I went with him to prove him wrong; even the checkout clerk agreed with me.

* We played capture the flag at rock canyon park in the giant sprinklers. We all got sore.

* Brian and I watched PUSH with 15 others from the ward. Then we visited peoples apartments until late into the night.

* They all play tennis. They shut off apartment lights when they are not in use. They all do their part in maintaining a clean communal area. One of them even unplugs the toaster after using it to save on electricity, like me!