"No way," all the married parents are probably thinking. Just hear me out on this one.
We all know the traditional wedding vow: I, (name), take you (name), to be my lawfully wedded (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.
Now let's apply this to roommates.
I, {name}, take you {name(s)}, to be my contractually stuck-together house partner.
We all have been there. That moment where you're signing the lease on your house or apartment and you look at your future roommates and pray "Dear God let me have picked the right people." Now for most of us this is actually an exciting time. We're looking forward to the life we're going to build together in our new residence and thoughts of how the cleaning rotation are going to work and who's dishes are those growing things in the sink are far from your mind.
Give it two months.
...to have and to hold from this day forward...
I hope your ready for your personal space to shrink. Privacy doesn't really exist anymore.
Good luck.
...for better or for worse...
Let's start with that for worse part. All of you are girls? You'll start cycling together. Have you ever had three girls PMSing at once? The amount of chocolate that will be consumed that week will be out of control and the amount of times someone starts a fight or cries will be something out of a horror/romantic comedy on steroids.
What about that time one of you came home too late and after a little too much fun? Guess who gets to hold her hair? Yep. {At this point it is also acceptable to laugh and take pictures}.
Think about all the other times you know you're at your worse: hell weeks through school, after break-ups, when you're on a diet. Now you get to love someone through all that.
At this point your honeymoon phase will be long over.
But the best part is, as long as you've chosen wisely, your roommates will love you through all of it.
And you'll have the opportunity to see these people shine.
Loving them through their worst means you won't be able to help but love them through their best.
... for richer, for poorer....
Your landlord made you sign a joint lease? I'm sorry to hear that. Bills become a touchy subject at times. It's never an easy thing to say, "Yo gurl gimme your money." Or something along those lines.
Fighting over the thermostat can and will happen.
Also be prepared to go around turning every light off in the house because they can and will be left on. You will also be guilty of doing this so unless it's extremely habitual, just hit the switch and don't start a fight.
...in sickness and in health...
One of you is sick? HAHAHAHAHA hope you have a lot of tissues and/or more than one bathroom. When you live together it's pretty much "what's mine is yours." This means when one of you is sick, it's almost guaranteed that you're going to pass it along to someone else in the house.
Now, if you're really lucky, your roommates will be those kind souls that go out and buy you saltines and popsicles because you're stuck in bed after hurling all night. That roommate should be the one you strive to find because they make your life easier and they actually still pretend to like you when you're leaking things out of every orifice.
Just be prepared to return the favor. And because you love them {or pretend to}, you will.
...to love and to cherish...I hope you find or have roommates you love. Roommates can be people you simply live with, or they can be a family.
Yes you'll end up cleaning up their stuff and want to scream when they've left their laundry in the dryer for two weeks {I will take complete ownership of that one} but there are going to be memories that you'll make that you just can't share with anyone because you haven't lived with them.
...from this day forward until the lease does expire.
Hopefully if you haven't killed each other by this point {trust me there will be times when shoving someone off the balcony sounds like an amazing idea} you can either re-sign for next year or part with a friend you know you can count on.
And hey, if you do end up hating each other, you probably have some awesome stories.
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