There are not many people on the planet I love more than my roommates.
Yes, I love my family, friends from home, and the 3-year-old twins I babysit (plus many more). But as someone who did not grow up with sisters, my roommates hold a very special, and untouchable, place in my heart.
ClichĂ© warning: words cannot really do our relationships justice, but I want to do my best.Â
In the order of which I lived with them: an ode, a letter, to each of my roommates.
Riley connors
So many college students discuss the horrors and the epic highs and lows of their freshman year roommate. It’s a group I am happy to be excluded from.
While we thought the main mission of Welcome Days was to make Fal 107 homey, it became much more. Welcome Days became the stepping stones in making this entire campus and season of our lives ~homey~.
Was freshman year a walk in the park? Obviously, not. I still vividly remember the Google search, “Can my nipples fall off from the cold?” as well as many other disaterious debriefs that took place in our little shoebox.
We walked each other home that year, literally and figuratively.
However, you are so much more than just my freshman, junior, and senior year roommate. (Author’s note: No, Riley and I did not have a falling out sophomore year, contrary to popular belief).
You are key in making Bonaventure home, to not only me, but so many others.
I have a lot of fears about the future, both in my own life and in the wider country. However, knowing that you will be teaching the next generation gives me a lot of hope. I know you will inspire them with your respect, passion and general joy for the world. I know they are in good hands.
You leave each place a little better than you found it, and that includes Pink, the townhouses and Falconio Hall.
We have both changed tremendously since freshmen year, but you have been there for ALL of it.
I cannot wait to see how we continue to evolve, and I have never doubted that you will always be cheering me on.
Ellie Foley
“I love your pillowcase!”
The sheets that Ellie complimented at our freshman orientation now wrap the bed my mother calls “Ellie’s bed” back in New Jersey.
Ellie is the Samantha Jones to my Charlotte York, though we can never decide if we were on “Friends” which one of us would be Monica and which one would be Rachel. (Author’s note: we may have settled on her being Phoebe and me being Ross).
Ellie, you are single-handedly the funniest person I know. When school is tough, and when we both struggle being away from home, I know I can count on your many, many quotes to get me through.
When the NoticeBoard came out about the new Communication, Social Justice & Advocacy major, you were my first text (low and behold you had already texted me).
Much more than your material achievements within dance and academics, your heart is my favorite thing about you. You make your life so accessible to others, and it is a gift.
You are radically generous, fiercely mature and wonderfully bubbly. You make the simple tasks of filling tires or doing the dishes (or even going to Ibiza) meaningful.
Nothing is off limits. Let’s talk about emotional intelligence and then get teas and then chat in circles about A Boogie Wit da Hoodie.
Thank you for letting me get to know you a little more each day.
When it comes to the ‘Foley Principle,’ you will always be in my top 1%.
Leah mcelheny
Sometimes when parents are in the process of having kids, after one or two, they don’t feel the family unit is fully set in stone yet.
But, maybe, after a few more, they stop having kids because the family is complete.
That is almost what I felt like the day you moved into the townhouse; our family was complete.
Of course I love to hear stories about your galivants through freshman and sophomore years of college, but I also wish we had met even just a little bit sooner.
To everyone else reading, to be loved by Leah is to be known.
She knows all of my preferences and quirks even before we have discussed them. She notices all my small idiosyncrasies, but she not only notices them, she revels in them.
Leah prides herself on being a gift giver. She loves to stalk Etsy and make a beautiful collation of items. I wonder if she knows that what she has actually given to us roommates is her soul.
Leah, you have always put your heart and spirit on display, and I hope to have a fraction of your zest for life and the things you are passionate about. You live life out loud.
You and I are cut from the same loaf and there is no one I would rather share this loaf of life with. I imagine it is the type of banana bread that we both love.
After all, Leah is Leah.
all
There is no Bonaventure without you. There’s no me without us.
If I imagine my life as a string, it remains limp and uninspired without being entangled with yours.
I cannot thank you enough for all the ways you love me.
“Text me when you get home.” “Of course I want to play try-on.” “Do you want a drink?” “I’ll be there.” “What’s wrong?” “How was it?” “Yeah, of course I can do your hair.” “Have you eaten yet?”
Cheers to us, forever & ever.