By Monica Rodriguez | Reporter
As a self-proclaimed introvert, I’ve never been the person to have a huge group of close friends. When I was growing up, my family moved around a lot, so any friendships I did develop eventually ended up dissolving. The phrases “Let’s stay in touch” and “I’ll come visit you sometime” soon came to be just empty promises to me after my third or fourth time switching schools. So when I came to college, I was set on focusing solely on my schoolwork and only keeping a couple of friends.
However, that all changed once I met my first roommate from freshman year.
I wasn’t completely set on going to Baylor for a while, so I was late to the roommate choosing game when the April before I graduated high school came around. A couple of Facebook posts, several messages and a few awkward introductions later, I met a girl from California who was also a late Baylor commit. We shared some of the same likes and dislikes and, being desperate to find someone in order to avoid a potluck horror story, decided to room together.
Looking back now, that was one of the best decisions I could have ever made.
From move-in day onward, we were inseparable. From eating, to going to the library, to weekend outings, we did everything together. Even though we were just as close to everyone else in our newly formed six-person friend group, which was another surprise to me, there was always this bond between us. Sophomore year, we decided to room together again. Although there were some adjustments that came with living in an actual house instead of a 10 feet by 12 feet room, the friendship remained just as strong …. which is why it was so hard on me when she decided to leave Baylor after that fall semester.
Her departure was equivalent to losing a limb. The person that knew me better than anyone else was suddenly on the other side of the country, and I felt that familiar alone feeling I had felt a dozen times during my childhood. Once again, I expected our friendship to eventually dissipate over the next couple of months.
But the exact opposite occurred. Our friendship became even more important to the both of us because we realized the chance of finding another person who understood one another better than we did doesn’t come around often.
Although we have our own busy lives and we suck at communicating, each of us makes the effort to FaceTime every couple of weeks to see how the other is doing. I was never a huge fan of talking on the phone, but when we’re catching up, the hours just fly by and it’s as if we never skipped a beat. Any breaks during the school year are planned with various trips and events to come visit the other. Birthdays are still celebrated right at midnight, no matter the time difference. My phone screensaver of us hasn’t changed since freshmen year.
While the distance is hard and there are many moments where I think “Man, I wish she was here right now,” I truly believe our friendship has changed for the better. I am now completely confident that she is someone who will be close to me for the rest of my life.
And that is a beautiful thing to know.
