And with that I begin to share the moment I didn’t expect to get on a recent visit to see Daughter at college.
It’s been six weeks since she launched. Since she started sharing a small dorm room with the sweet girl in my back seat.
I bit — as both Daughter and Roommate craned their necks to watch the mystery girl head the opposite direction our car was traveling through campus.
“That’s the roommate that wasn’t,” came the explanation from the back seat.
“They were going to be roommates, but the other girl dumped her before they fully committed,” Daughter added. “And now we see her all over campus.”
The world has changed.
At many schools today, kids pick their freshman roommate. You go on an admitted student Facebook page, post your profile and look for someone to room with.
Match.com with nine-month consequences.
Thank goodness I didn’t have that kind of power.
Would’ve never had the wisdom at 18 to pick Sandra, with whom I was matched and who remains one of my closest friends today.
Six weeks into their freshman year, Daughter and Roommate appear to have made a fine choice in each other.
Scratch that — phenomenal.
They are best friends. Inseparable. Navigating the jungles of freshman year and all that goes with it. Together.
Those reports I’ve been hearing since dropping daughter off.
This, though, was new information.
“Wait, you mean you weren’t her first choice for roommate?” I asked Daughter.
“No, and that girl wasn’t the only one who didn’t work out for her,” she said.
“You mean, you, perfect roommate match you, were actually like 10th choice?”
“Pretty much,” Daughter said with a laugh of the sort you can only laugh when you know the rest of the story. When you know things worked out great.
“Can’t mess up the right one. Can’t make the wrong one work,” I declared sharing one of my top life tenants.
Have you come to realize this, Dear Reader?
Surely, you, like I, have done your share of chasing.
Chasing a relationship.
A particular job.
A certain house.
You chase.
You clench.
Because surely you know exactly how things are supposed to work out for the best.
Only you don’t.
Not really.
They work out like they are supposed to.
I now add roommates to the list.
Daughter’s been dumped so many times because clearly, there was one perfect match for her freshman year.
Can’t mess up the right one.
Dear Reader, if it seems at this moment that things have not worked out, I offer: It’s possible you’re in the “Roommates Dumping Me” phase.
They’re still working themselves out.
Let that proverbial girl keep walking the other direction.
The right one is on the way.
And you won’t be able to mess it up.
Not when it’s meant to be.
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