Birds and Bees

From being an only child to basically having 5 sisters is a big jump. But one that I was forced to make. However, it is not something that I wish that I could take back. Especially on the nights in which we all were able to share pieces of our history with one another. Plus, I cannot forget to mention that every night was a sleepover. Boys, school and aspirations were things that were commonly mentioned throughout the first semester.

In fact, I will never forget the night that I had to give my roomie the birds and the bees talk because I was assigned the role of mommy within the room. Today I will not be disclosing my roommates name for the sake of her embarrassment, so today we will go by the name Jane Doe, Jane for short.

Jane was an innocent girl who was protected from a vast majority of the outside world growing up. Her parents did this because they did not want to take the risk of ruining her innocence, and while this may sound really bad I was forced to take that innocence from her.

On the night in question the entire room was empty with with exception of Jane, me and one of our other roommates.

I was watching Flash, a series that I had recently found myself immersed in when I overheard Jane's conversation with her best friend. To keep this rated PG let's just say they were discussing how they wanted to play with the bees but without using a beekeeper suit for protection.

Need I announce how surprised I was when I heard that? I immediately turned around and asked if she had the birds and the bees talk with her parents back at home to which she responded by saying no.

I then proceeded to explain how that decision wouldn't be a really good one considering all of the dangers that one little bee could bring, and let's not forget about the possibility of having eggs to hatch as the bird!

But the funniest part about all of it was that in the end, even after being informed about all of the dangers that could be found she still insisted on just trying it to see what it was like. Especially because the bee that she was into really wanted it and she was afraid he would go looking for it somewhere else.

Then I was forced to explain that giving it up wouldn't necessarily give her the sense of security that she was looking for. In fact, it may actually make the bee travel to another bird regardless.

That was the day that I realized that everyone doesn't always know the things that you know and that it sometimes to helps to share the knowledge that you have so that you prevent them from making mistakes that they may regret in the future. Ignorance is bliss but knowledge is key.

The love expands across the floor

The journey of my roommates and I is a long one. We've endured the ever lasting fear of meeting strangers, conquered bad experiences and created a bond that I believe can last a life time. However the bond that we have, expand further than our supplemental room, in fact, it speed across the entire floor. We have our RA to thank for that.

Our RA's name is Jane and she is one of the most brilliant people that I know. She's also extremely caring and considerate. Believe it or not. But the first thing that she made all of us do as a group was sit on one another's lap. It was the most awkward thing in my life, and of course the guys had to drag it out because they were afraid to sit on another man's lap (trust me the visual was hysterical, the biggest, bulkiest, most A type male, had to sit on the lap of one of the short and stocky guys.)

However, once it was done we all laughed about it and became great friends. Which leads us to the time we painted the windows.

(Can you spot the JM?)

All floors in Brumbaugh were given a window to decorate and represent their floor for the duration of the year. It was a Blast. There was music, food, and paint EVERYWHERE!  

It was comical because it was around the time that we all had our very first exams. One person would be exchanging soothing words all the while stressing over the same exact thing. There were people crying because of how heavy the stress weighed in on them, and because of that Jane forced us to take a break.

When I say forced, I mean FORCED. She walked into our room and took our books away from us and told us that we NEEDED to relax. So we did. In my opinion we created the best window.

Sweet Caroline,  BRUM, BRUM, BRUM!

Though I cannot take much credit, as I am the furthest thing from artistic. Instead I held the job of passing the paint and brushes to those with more creative skill. I also got to sign my initials on the window for my good work.

Okay, okay. I'm kidding. We actually just signed the initials of everyone on the floor, but you catch my drift. It was a great bonding moment and one that I am sure that I will never forget. 

By the end of the night everyone relaxed enough to complete their studies and actually retain the information that was being received. It was that night that I learned that you cannot live life with all work and no play. If you do, it may work against you. It is for that lesson I am grateful. But there was also another thing that I learned that night as well and that was that neighbors do not have to be strangers. In fact, some of them may even develop to be your best friend. 

Talk About Bad Memories

The diversity that was concentrated to room 118 was something unthinkable. There were six of us each with entirely different backgrounds. An African American, two Caucasians, an Asian, a Haitian, and a girl of mixed race. However, I never realized how important that diversity would be to our room until the night that I looked over to my left and saw my roommate with tears rolling down her face.

She and her family survived the earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010. However the memories of that incident survived with her as well.  At first she was trying to keep to herself and cry all alone. It wasn't until I was crawling up the ladder to her bed that she even recognized that any of us was paying attention to her.

It was when she noticed that we were concerned that she attempted to pretend like everything was okay. She sniffled and wiped away her tears. She tried to laugh away her pain.
At first I watched her try to pull herself together. Then I pulled her in for a hug (which says a lot because I am the farthest thing from affectionate). After that she began to explain everything.

Her story began with her father picking up both her and her brother from school. Everything was peaceful at first, she was dancing in the backseat to the music that played over the radio as her brother was describing his day to them.

They were only moments away from being home when the earthquake began; and they were directly under a mountain. Rocks began to fall down, and she found herself stuck in the car. Unable to move, caught between her seatbelt and the door. Her father and bother had to pull her out of the car. Once the earthquake came to its end they had to walk the remainder of the way home.

Fortunately their home was not affected from the natural disaster that had just occurred. Which is why her mind rejected all of that danger as she told her father that she forgot her backpack in the car and had to retrieve it. Her aftershock held her back from realizing that the earthquake would result in not having school.

Then her tears began once again, this time with her realizing that she wasn't alone. We were there for her because she needed us to be. We comforted her like family, and then helped her to relax with movies, popcorn and ice-cream. She learned the same lesson that I learned that day; which is just because the people that are closest to you aren't near, doesn't mean that there isn't anyone around that cares.

Below I attached the video of the remains of her family's car, which her and her entire family were nearly smashed to death in.

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