Roommates--the long and the short of it

I've had my fair share of roommates.  Some may even say I've had more than my fair share of roommates.

My first roommate, besides my parents for I'm guessing a few months, was my sister Jennilyn.  We started being roommates shortly after I turned four.  I think.  That was, after all, a long time ago.  Maybe it was shortly before I turned five and my brother Todd was born.  But it seems like it was a few months earlier.  Jennilyn is my longest roommate to date.  We shared a room consistently until I moved to college.

I then had Lynell, Susan, and Tami as roommates.  And as far as first time college roommates, we did pretty well.  We had our ups and downs, our bumps along the way, but what we really had was fun!

The next year, Lynell and I shared our space with Maren and Rochelle.  A friend, Bronna, lived on our couch for several weeks while she healed from a broken knee cap.  Somehow we were convinced she was better off with us than in her apartment.  Maren moved out the second semester (it may have had something to do with the fact that I didn't go to bed before 4 am and she had all early classes).  (I KNOW, so odd that I was a night owl back in the day!)  For most of the second semester, it was just the three of us.  About a month before school ended, a girl, whose name I don't remember, moved in with us.  I remember Tami called her Q-Tip the year before because of her hair.

My next roommates were while I was on my mission.  In the MTC, I had three--Shelley (my companion), Jill, and Sister Nielsen (I can't remember her first name--give me some time and it may come back to me).  We were roommates for only three weeks, but had a fabulous time.  I recently reconnected with Jill via Facebook and she has a great photography business.

Over the next eighteen months, I ended up with so many roommates/companions on my mission, it seems unreal.  But here goes:
Elizabeth--I was her last companion and we were together for one month.  It was pretty tough being new and paired with someone really ready to go home.  But I learned a lot from her.
Nicole--We were together from mid-November to mid-January and had so much fun!  She also was getting ready to go home, but the difference was night and day.  We had some pretty crazy experiences that I still think of fondly today.
Alisha--We were together just a few days.  Unfortunately we were split up when another companionship needed to be re-assigned.  She was a good companion, who I learned from.  (Anyone noticing a pattern?)
Lucy--This girl made me laugh.  We were together about three months and had fun.   Sometimes too much.
Liza--She joined Lucy and me for a month.  She was the yin to Lucy and my yang. 
Lori--She helped me go from city girl to backwoods country gal.  We had too many adventures and she cracked me up!
Nichole--She really tried my patience.  Unfortunately, we didn't see eye to eye on many things and I wasn't the best at compromise.  We were together about 6 weeks until we were split up in the middle of the month.
Wendy--She was one of the hardest workers I was with.  I loved being with her since she taught me to just get out and do it.  We were together about three weeks, but it was a great three weeks.
Jen--She hurt her knee something ferocious and she and I moved into the mission home so she could heal.  I loved the time we spent there...being with President and Sister McGrath was wonderful and I was in a "four-some."
Sydney--She was a part of the four-some and was a great worker.  We partied every day.
Kelsey--The last of the four-some.  She was hysterical!  She was from Chubbuck, Idaho and pretended it was a metropolis.
Lori--Yep, Lori again!  This time was a three-some and it was hysterical every minute.
Sandy--She was a "mini-missionary."  She was just shy of 21 and from the area.  She spent 6 months as a missionary and I spent two and a half months with her.  She was a great calming influence.  When she wasn't being just as crazy as the rest of us.
Shawna--She was another difficult companion.  But I did learn from her.
Sydney-Again.  And just as much fun.  We were companions the last three months of my mission and I am so grateful for her influence to keep me going.
Cathy--She, Syd, and I were companions for a couple of months and we had the best of times in the 'hood known as East St. Louis.  She was another worker bee!

I had another couple of sisters that were roommates for a couple of days, but I won't count them.  We don't want to go overboard!

A few months after I got home from my mission, I moved into an apartment with Allison, Jen, and another girl, whose name escapes me.  Things went well for about six months, but then they started to go down hill.  Allison left to go on a mission and I was about 4 years older than the other two girls.

So, I moved in with Arlissa, Sandy, Sarah, Stephanie (yes, a roommate with the same name), and Tracy.  That was a great apartment and I can't think of any real issues we had.  It was only for about 6 months, but it was a good six months!

Arlissa, Tracy, and I moved into a house that we watched for the summer.  It was sort of odd since the owner lived there off and on during the summer and her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson lived there with us.  Some times a little awkward, but mostly a good experience.

Stephanie and I moved into an apartment and searched for another roommate or two.  Arlissa moved back in with us for a little while, then Angelica.  Angelica spoke Spanish as her primary language (and very good English) and was a DJ on a Spanish radio station.  One night she called and told us to listen to the radio.  She called out her roomo-matos.  I felt famous.

Stephanie moved out after graduating and Lucero moved in.  She also was a fluent Spanish-speaker (and not-so-great English-speaker) and I found out after she lived there for awhile that she was in the US illegally.  I'll have to tell you the story about my brush with the border patrol while we were roommates another time.

A few months later, I moved in with Arlissa at her grandparents' home.  She lived with her younger brother, Clar.  So I had my first boy roommate.  He worked construction and was gone or asleep whenever I was home, so it was almost like he wasn't there.

Arlissa and I moved into an apartment and it was only us for several months.  We met a girl Carey at church and invited her to move in with us the same day.  She moved in probably two days later.

About a year later, Arlissa moved out of state and Carey and I moved in with Ruth (my birthday twin--just five years younger).  She bought a condo and we decorated like crazy.  Painted, wallpapered, re-upholstered.

Ruth decided to sell a couple of years later and I became roommate-free for the first time in SEVERAL years.  It was great for the eighteen months it lasted, but I was happy to find my next roommate.

I bought a house and decided to get a roommate to help share expenses and all my extra room!  Stacey moved in and we had a good time.  I think I wasn't quite ready for a roommate, so it didn't last long.  But Kira moved in and stayed for a little more than two years.  Maybe partly because for half of that time, she traveled for work and was out of state.  :)

Kira moved out just before I married Darrell, who has been my favorite roommate.  I think he's a keeper and I plan to never get rid of him.

So, I guess roommate number 39 is a charm!

Editor's Notes:  Sister Nielsen's name came to me on my way to work....she is Jody.  And my third roommate after my mission was Sherry.  I remembered that one on the way home from work.  I knew I would remember eventually.