Coming Home?

Major shocker at work today. I'm sitting there, la la la, totally #winning at everything, and then I get a text from my roommate Claire. "Wanna do Zumba tonight?" Uhhhh, color me shocked. Basically, she and her bf were supposed to be out of town until tomorrow, so I had been a little, uh, lax when it came to proper living habits. So immediately, I go into panic mode. See, the thing is...I lived like a frat boy all week. Since they left last week, I've been leaving breadcrumbs of clothes, glasses, shoes, and papers all over the place. When I learned they would be home TODAY, I had vivid images of dishes on the counters, lights left on all day, high heels strategically placed by doors in order to thwart any clumsy burglars...not exactly the most grown up way to leave a house. So yeah, I was feeling all sheepish.

So I say to Claire "Oh no! I thought you were coming home TOMORROW!" And she's all "No, we'll be back TODAY, duh. Why, what's wrong?" I felt like I was 16 years old and was about to get caught throwing a raging party. Instead, I'm akljdewehjtliuwfg years old and did NOT have a party. I simply just, uh, let myself go. I said "Claire, I left the house pretty messy." And she's all "Okaaaay...'cause I don't care." And I said "Yeah, but I left dishes out everwhere." And, God love her, she writes back,

"Well, then you better leave work early to go put those dishes away."

Of course she was joking, so I felt better.

I got home from work, and kind of tiptoed inside, before realizing "DUH. Everything is FINE". Claire and her bf have been such good friends of mine for so long, that my initial panic at leaving the place messy faded away. I reminded myself "Claire used to come over to ask me to play when we were like 5 years old, and I'd be making snow angels in the piles of clothes on my floor. She has seen the time when I tripped on not one, but TWO garbage bags - full of garbage - on my way across my room. She knows I have my moments of messy." So again, I felt better.

Better STILL was when Claire said "I'm making jambalaya for dinner. Want some?" Yes, yes I do. My initial plan for dinner was "try and not just eat cookies for dinner. Again." So, we sat down together, ate some really incredible jambalaya, and then cleaned up and went about our business. I realized how much I missed this kind of thing. You know, just adults hanging out. I also missed having a roommate who has, despite my efforts to throw her for a loop, always been a dear friend. After years and years of adjusting to new roommates and new people, I feel like "I can adjust to this, because she already knows me." And that's, well that's just plain nice.

Now, as long as she doesn't come and look at my pigsty room, I'll be okay. Seriously. I have a shaker of sea salt and a jar of Chef's Secret spices laying on my floor. Not normal.