What I found when I wasn't looking.

I had a gift handed to me this week. I've got a roommate. My head is still spinning, it has happened so fast. Not quite two years ago my roommate of approximately 7 years finished grad school, and took a job in Arkansas. For most of my post-college life I've been fortunate enough to have a roommate. I didn't really seek them out--they just fell into place.

At one point I lived in a 600 square foot trailer and had not one, but two roommates. That was tight! We all shared one tiny little bedroom and used the other tinier little bedroom for a closet. Crazy.

When Jenny moved out it was the first time in 7 years that I would routinely come home to an empty house. I'm an introvert and by nature people and social situations exhaust me. Not that I do not like them or want to be around them--just that I don't draw my energy from people. I don't gravitate towards crowds, but coming home every night to an empty house wasn't appealing.

The first night I came home after Jenny left I was on my phone with my mom and was walking around the house looking at all the empty spaces where her stuff used to be. I just cried. I kept saying....I can't do this. I can't come home to an empty house every single night. I wanted another roommate but you can't go to Wal-mart and just "get" a roommate.

So I waited. Eventually I learned to take advantage of not having a roommate. Coming home to an empty house, means......coming home to an empty house. :-) Empty. I can leave my stuff where I want to. Snooze the alarm as long as I want. Leave the bathroom door open. Sing. Enjoy my niece and nephew as loudly as I want when they visit. Sleep in on a Saturday without having the noise of another person starting their day wake me up. Park my car in the middle of the garage.

Shallow reasons for NOT wanting a roommate, but profound reasons for learning to find contentment in your present situation.

Slowly I spread out. Filled the spaces Jenny vacated. Enjoyed the freedoms being alone can grant but remained open to a roommate. Last Sunday Brooke greeted me a church by asking if I was still interested in a roommate. Someone she worked with and who played softball at Grace while Brooke was coaching was looking for a place to live in Warsaw. She lives in Rochester and was growing tired of the drive.Yep, I thought, but where I am going to put her? I turned Jenny's room into a craft room, and the other room is where I put my family when they come to visit. I can't remember much of the sermon that day because I was figuring out where I'd put a roommate. By the end of the sermon I pretty much had it figured out and told her I'd figure out the logistics and to let her know there was a space for her if she was interested.

We met, had lunch. Everything clicked and ....here I am less than two weeks later getting things ready for my new roommate to move in. It feels like a good fit for both of us. I wasn't actively looking. I did nothing to influence the decision. It was just a neatly wrapped present that God placed right in my lap. And I'm very thankful.