Reasons for Everything

The universe is unfolding exactly as it should. If you just let life play out, you may be pleasantly surprised at what a bad situation brings you in the long run.

This past Christmas I was home in Vermont enjoying Mom's cooking and Slug's bartending. It was nice talking to the Rockette and her girlfriend by the fire, and skiing with SuperCool was as entertaining as always. Our cars even made it up the snowy driveway every single time - we never had to fire up the tractor unless Slug and Supercool wanted to drag race the neighbors. And we were all getting ready for the big New Year's Eve party in just 2 days. And then I open an email one morning from one of my roommates back in Colorado:

"Good news everyone! My boyfriend asked me to move in with him! I'll be out of the house at the end of the week and you will all have a new roommate, she's a friend of a friend and she will be moving from San Diego to the house January 1st."

Hm, that would be... 3 days from the date of the email. What... The... F***.................? I jumped out of the chair and I'm pretty sure my hair was standing on end. I think the fire shooting from my eyeballs permanently damaged the computer monitor.

BYOTCH! Was she freaking kidding me?!?! New roommate? Who is this? How does she know her? What is her name? Bitch thinks she's gonna give the keys to MY house over to some stranger while I am on the other side of the country? I don't *think* so! I replied to Thoughtless Roomie with a strongly worded email (which was only slightly more diplomatic than what I wrote here) and my point was made - no way in hell was this girl moving in to my house before I had a chance to talk to her. Had I been in Colorado I could potentially still be serving jail time for whatever it was I might have done to Thoughtless. But since I was in Vermont, there wasn't a whole lot I could do but talk to this would-be roommate.

Lo and behold the rest of the house had similar responses. Thoughtless Roomie did display some decent judgement when she alerted the girl who was moving in that the other people in the house were - ahem - "unhappy with the situation," and gave her our phone numbers so that she could contact us.

The new girl called me up right away. She was all sweetness and light on the phone, explaining she grew up in Glenwood, just graduated college in San Diego and was going to work as a lobbyist at the capitol, recently engaged, blah blah blah. It was enough for me to figure out that she wasn't a psycho intent on stealing my things and burning the house down in my absence, and after I got off the phone with her I told all the other roommates that San Diego Sunshine had my OK.

I then emailed Thoughtless that while Sunshine seemed fine, the situation was very badly handled with all the housemates being OUT OF TOWN and completely in the dark that this was going on. I told her none of us needed that sort of stress, and while it may all be very well and good and that the girl may end up being my best friend, I didn't appreciate the whole thing and that as an adult, she should know to treat people better. And that was pretty much the last contact I've had with Thoughtless.

Sunshine moved in to a house full of bitter people. I was reeling from a bad break up, Noodles was in a constant state of Wanting to Kick a Tree Down, P was pissed that her friend Thoughtless had done such a thing to us. I warned Sunshine she would be moving into a hostile environment and that she shouldn't take it personally. She came armed with a lovely red plant for our dining room table and an invite that we all go to dinner together to get to know each other. Her smile sparkled more than the oversized diamond on her left hand. God, this girl would never last in this house.

It is now May. I let life play out. I got over my breakup. I took Sunshine up on her happy little invites to do things. I have thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the couch with her getting addicted to Brothers and Sisters, fantasizing about our would-be lives, hashing out what to do about our actual lives, yelling at her over eating the last of my food (again) and helping each other decide what we should wear to work and to dates. I look forward to bike rides, camping trips and gelato dinners with her. Sunshine and I will be friends for a long time and while I don't care to talk to Thoughtless again, I am thankful that she inadvertently handed me one of the best things in my life.

So. (And this part here is really for my own sake, but you may get something out of reading it as well.) Try not to lose your focus on the bigger picture. If you are in a bad situation or rough patch of life, have faith that you are meant to be there and find out what it is you are supposed to learn. You will probably be rewarded with the discovery that you've been handed a marvelous gift.