Our House (In The Middle Of The Street)

Not really. Our house is on the corner. Here it is in all it's glory. You can't actually see, but we have a pointy roof on the right side that's kinda cool. You also can't see our garage or our porch in this picture.

The House. I wish the stupid tree didn't block the view, I'l try and take a better picture tomorrow morning. 

We live on Girard St, so they call us the Girard Bayit. Bayit is the hebrew word for house. It's a 3-story row house with a large finished basement. There are 7 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, 2 living rooms, and 4 bathrooms for 13 women. Surpassingly, it's quite spacious.

I live on the second floor in the middle room. My window is mostly blocked by the tree, but you can sort of see it peaking out, above the front porch overhang.

I love my house. I really really love my house, my housemates, and even my living situation. This usually shocks people. When I tell them this, they pause, then shake their finger at me as if to say "gotcha" and then warn, "Oh-ho, just wait another three months! Then you'll be at each other's throats!"

This response bothers me. While I am not so naive to think that they are wrong, I am trying to hold on to my rose-colored glasses for as long as possible. Also, the words we use to describe our situations impact our thoughts and feelings; By purposely using positive words, I'm setting myself up to feel happy about the situation. Intentional community doesn't work without buy-in, and my chips are all in. 

But as of this moment, I'm not even wearing my rose colored glasses, because I really do love my house. It is rare in life to find even one person who cares about you, but to find 12 other friends who understand your experience is a blessing. 

I walk away from dinner every night with a full stomach and a huge grin. Someone always has a funny work story that leaves us all cracking up. One person is really sassy and makes lots of sarcastic jokes. Another person will vent about an issue they are having at work, and we'll crowd-source solutions.  If someone has a romantic interest, we have to get all the details on them. Most nights, we'll end up talking about one social issue or another as we navigate our way through the professional activist world. 

And it's not just dinners. We go out as a house to explore the city, attend events and such.  Usually, it's not all 13 of us together, but we do go out in pairs and sometimes we get the majority of the house to the same bar.

Before you go thinking we spend every waking moment together, that's not true either. My roommate and I have different enough schedules that I get plenty of time in my room on my own. Even if we had identical schedules, the house is pretty big and it's not too hard to find your own space in it. And if you really can't find space in the house, DC has lots of places open late and most of us have at least one friend here we can visit when we need to be elsewhere.

In terms of the nitty gritty, we've got systems set up for cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and house contributions (aka chores). All-in-all, it's a pretty sweet deal living here and I'm having a ton of fun.

If you have more questions about how this all works, leave em for me in the comments section and I'll reply when I have a chance!