When New Girl originally came out, I was looking for a place to live. After not being able to find a roommate for my amazing apartment in an even more amazing location, I set myself up to move in with a girl from work, which didn’t work out — at all. I lived there for five days before I felt too worried out to sleep and I left. Ah, the joys of finding a living space in your early 20s. So, I hiked it back home and promptly got to work finding a place to live. Those seeking a roommate were the only ads I looked at, as I couldn’t find a place I could afford on my own, and when I did, applications beat me to it, even after waking up early and waiting outside the office before it opened.
I had lived with a female for the past few years and it was nice, but wasn’t what I was after. I was ready for adventure, ready for something exciting, and after watching an adorable doe-eyed woman move into a giant loft with four dudes, I could see the perfect adventure laid out before me. My wants were pretty easy: a relatively spacious bedroom with a large closet. I didn’t care much about the rest of the place, just as long as it was nice, and the roommates were people I could fall in love with, both as friends, and maybe more. The love story between Nick and Jessica was strong, and obviously that’s the goal in life, right? No male friends, just a partner for life?
Yeah, in my early 20s I thought that life would mimic TV and that I would end up falling in love with one of my male roommates just because someone on TV did. For someone who wanted to be a writer, I sure didn’t understand that creative writing was, mainly, just making shit up. I wasn’t adamant about falling in love, but I wanted that cool-guy feel to the apartment, where I could hang out with them and become one of their friends, and we would go on hilarious adventures all the time.
I ended up finding just that. The apartment was further away from anything that I wanted to be near, but the price was right, and the guy renting out the room seemed cool. We chatted after getting the tour and he told me about a trip he and his buddies took down to the States to watch football every year and that if I ended up moving in, I would totally be invited. It was everything I was looking for! A guy who wasn’t intimidating in any way, hilarious and nice, my room was — relatively — large, and we were already planning hijinks! I happily told him I was interested, but needed a couple of days to think about it. As he owned the condo, he told me to take my time, but to let me know in a week if I would moving on in.
My life was turning out just like New Girl. Maybe a little less tame as there was only one roommate and not 3–4. And, the condo was much smaller than a giant loft in California. But, it was happening. Everything was starting to fall into place after falling apart the last year.
And then…I didn’t moved in. I couldn’t pull the trigger. Maybe if the condo was closer to where I wanted to be, maybe if the place was more spectacular, maybe if I was a little more adventures…and maybe if I hadn’t just romanticized roommates that a character on TV ended up with — that she actually thought were women, at first. I couldn’t do it. What had felt so right in the beginning felt…off. Was I really going to move into a place that was far from everything I wanted to be close to just because the roommate situation seemed pretty damn perfect?
While it would’ve been an adventure, to say the least, I’m glad I didn’t move in. I stayed at home a little longer, saved up some more money, and ended up buying my own little place almost a year later. I chose stability over adventure, and that stability eventually led me to my now husband. When you’re in your 20s, everything is fresh and exciting. You think you can do anything and survive anything. I knew that TV didn’t reflect real life, but I figured that I could do something fun and adventurous in my life just like on TV. Isn’t that what your 20s are for?
My life may not have lived out just like a season, or hell, an episode of New Girl, but it’s pretty damn good. Even without the roommates and a loft.
Juniper and Daisies 