My first ever roommate

I've been thinking a lot about the first couple of years I lived in Toronto. I find it quite endearing when a simple moment has the power to bring you right back to a memory lost deep within the depths of your brain. The story I intend to relay is a product of a lot of growth that has been acquired over the course of nearly two years. I hope that in all of my faults, whether new or old, I can, at some point in time, have a moment of clarity that pushes me to take accountability for all that I did.

I was driving into work the other day and one of the first songs that came on shuffle was Saturdays by Twin Shadows ft Haim. My brain was instantly filled with the memories of the dance parties that Rach and I would have in the living room. Whether it was a bad day where we just needed a pick-me-up, a night of heavy drinking in the living room during the pandemic and this was the song we ended the night with, or the song we needed to hear to end any regular night, that song became the anthem to the living room dance parties. The moment the song came on, we absolutely had to get to the living room and dance aimlessly for the length of the song. Looking back at it now, I always felt better after an aimless dance party in the living room with that song and Rach.

I lived with Rach for two years. What started as something that was meant to be a temporary fix to her living situation, ended up flourishing into the nicest cohabitating friendship I ever could have. I knew very little about her prior to moving in. In fact, I remember that the first time me and her hung out (unofficially), was for an open house event for the Master's program we were about to begin. We met somewhere in the food court of Union Station and while we had a quick snack to start the morning, she told me about her situationship at the time. We got along right away which was not a shocker since we were two girls talking shit about men.

By the time she moved in with me in January 2020 (I know, wild ass year) to avoid a hellish living situation, we had already partied way too hard one night, to the point that she took one for the team to get the girls drinks. Girls wanted Ciroc? Rachel got Ciroc. And then? She lived to tell the tale in Fran's. Soon after she settled into my nightmare of a second bedroom, we celebrated Rach's birthday, which, was one to remember ... for everyone other than Rach.

I remember those first few months before the pandemic actually hit, the tension was so high. I had never lived with anyone other than my family before, and had lived in my apartment for six months before Rach came around. I had a routine already set, a way of doing things. When Rach started doing everything literally backwards from the way I was doing it, I think I lost it in my own head about once a day. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't actually doing anything wrong but she wasn't doing it my way and that bothered the heck out of me. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank her enough for just putting up with that aspect of my personality. I know I'm not easy to deal with, whether as a roommate, or just more generally a human, but she somehow was able to either sweep it under the rug, slam a door in my face, or she may have talked shit about me when I wasn't around, but she never made me feel like she hated me and I guess I appreciate that. Now, let's take away the taboo out of talking shit about your friends cause the reality is that we all do when we're annoyed at stuff they do. She probably did and I definitely know I did too. I don't really think it's a big deal so long as that's not the sole thing you do when you open your mouth about that friend. We annoyed each other that's for sure, but all the same, Rach became family. And where I'm from, we protect family.

Once the pandemic hit, I scurried back home to Windsor for a while cause I was sick. One week turned into six and just after my dad's birthday in May, Rach threatened to move out if I didn't come back to Toronto. I don't think I ever realized just how lonely she must've felt. Six weeks at the brunt of the pandemic with no one else to socialize with. I was gone to Windsor where I could at least hangout with my family and Rach was well, alone.

I came back with a plan in mind. Rach and I were going to get our lives together and be active, hot, healthy, and become social media influencers. Within two days of my return, on our first active pursuit, Rach wiped out rollerblading and we had to go to the ER. Surprise!!!! Needless to say, the active stuff were put on hold for some time and we focused on other things. We were doing the absolute most. From going to empty mall parking lot garages to take pics, to changing clothes in the car so we can have multiple photoshoots in one day, I mean it when I say that we really did the absolute most.

The thing about Rach is that she was always there. She was there when I purchased my first car, she was there for my birthdays, she was there when I hopped on a plane for a random man. She was there when I cried, she was there when I wanted to quit my job, she travelled through a nightmare of a train ride to be with my family for new years. She was there for the sister trips, she became sister Rach. She was there for the benders, the car rides, the errands I just dragged her along for. She was there to get my boss drunk at our work holiday party so that he would give me the next day off.

But at the same time, she was also there when I let a man come between our friendship by letting him occupy space in our apartment for two months. She was there when I would get mad and slam doors. She was there when I treated her like crap because she was trying to suggest helpful things. Even crazier is that to some extent, she was also there even after she moved out and it took me close to a year to apologize and make amends for the time lost, the things said and the actions taken.

When I think back at the two years though, I don't have a single bad bone in my body about everything that was. I think about the dance parties, the random restaurant that was open on thanksgiving in 2020 and that took us in despite the pandemic. I think about the time we ate on the patio of a restaurant despite it being freezing cold, simply because we needed to feel some normalcy. I think about the Bachelor nights when we would drink a little too much. I think about the time I got too high and thought I would die and Rach sat in my room until I fell asleep to make sure I was okay.

As you can imagine, the shitty things I did along the way also put a weird divide between us. And while I can't really change what happened, I am happy to say that I feel that these days, I have Rach back. I do believe that people are put into our lives for a reason and I know that for me, one of those people is Rach. In about a month's time, we will hop on a plane to go on a mini trip to Seattle. In about five more months, we will hop on planes again to celebrate my birthday in Nashville. I don't really know what more to say about that other than my heart is so happy to feel like Rach will be around for the foreseeable future and that brings me so much joy.

I read somewhere that the friends you make in the later years of your life once you are already a fully functioning adult, are the people that you actually choose to be friends with. The people that have been your friends since grade school or high school, are friends you made over silly things and that remain in your life maybe for good reasons, but also maybe just because they have been there for a decade or longer and it would just feel weird without them. The length of a friendship doesn't necessarily mean that the friendship is bringing any value to your life, those people just know how you function so your weird outbursts may mean nothing to them and it's just stuff they sweep under the rug because they have been for a decade, it just became habit. However, the people you meet later on, when you have built a personality of your own and viewpoints that may upset some, these people really have to make a conscious choice of staying in your life given that you are much more difficult these days than when you were 18.

If you take anything away from this, it's that I hope you can pick out who the Rach in your life is and treasure that human. You might not see it now, but if you have a Rach that stays and tries to understand you through all the shit you throw her way, that Rach is special. It's so much harder to make friends after the age of 25 because you usually will have figured out by then what your deal breakers are in friends, what annoys you, what doesn't and if you are able to give home to a friendship under those circumstances, well, make sure it's a good home. Learn things from your friends, teach them where they need guidance. Laugh together, share memories and most definitely, dance aimlessly to songs at the end of a night in the living room.

Love ya Rach.

As always, thanks for coming to my Cez talk xo