Story of teh Day 8/ 9/ 2009

On Wednesday, Aaron drove to Cicero.

He went there to meet his new roommate. His college roommate. The guy who will be his roommate in another 10 days.

I went to college in the Dark Ages. Along with the other mail we got from the college- mail that came in envelopes on real paper , the college would send us a note with the name and address of our roommate, and we might write them a letter. This was all done using snail mail. Although, of course, back then no one had heard the term snail mail and it was the ONLY mail.

A 10 minute phone call on a Sunday, the cheapest option , was $3.00 – which, back in 1977, was a lot of money. So, we didn’t’ call, we wrote. And those phone calls took place on phones that were plugged into a wall and connected to the base by means of a spiraling cord that was always getting tangled.. If you had a very long cord, you could pace in a very small area, otherwise you stayed put for the duration of the call, which was carefully timed so as not to waste money. But, as I said, that was a lot of money, so we wrote.

And then we waited and hoped the roommate might write back.

You had to figure 5 days to a week for the letter to get from Ohio to Massachusetts, and just as long for a return letter to come to you- and that was if the roommate answered promptly, if at all.

Nowadays, the kids get a note in the mail with the name and address of the roommate.
Then they go on Facebook and look for them.
37 seconds later, the two of them are deeply enmeshed in a conversation about who is bringing what. Looking at one another’s photos from yesterday and from when they were 6 mos. old, videos and comments from their ex-girlfriends.
Well, except that Aaron and his roommate managed to be playing Facebook tag,- not on-line at the same time, so instant messaging or chatting or whatever it is didn’t happen- instead it was a lot more old fashioned- instant ly delivered notes left for one another. A lot of messages back and forth over a relatively few days…….
And Aaron started to get..nervous.

“Don’t decorate the room before I get there!” (Seriously, Aaron hadn’t picked out any drapes to bring.)

“ Your being deaf might be a problem. I like to talk a lot.” (Yeah, deaf people never communicate with anyone. Also, if this guy really talks as much as he says, it might be good that Aaron can turn off his hearing aids.)

And that was just the beginning.

There was also the insistence on meeting.
Aaron kept trying to put him off, but finally proposed Cicero, after realizing it was roughly half way between them.

So, they met for lunch. At Subway. Home of the $5 tuna foot-long sub.
Believe me, Aaron could easily live on tuna sandwiches and green tea. Foot-long tuna sandwiches and buckets of green tea.
But the roommate suggested they split a foot-long. He had already worked it out to the penny.
Aaron, thinking there might be an issue of the guy not having much money, agreed.
Also, the guy was a head smaller than Aaron and thin. Maybe he really didn’t’ put away as much food as we all do on a regular basis.
So, Aaron politely agreed to split it, knowing that he would be hungry half-an hour later. He just didn’t’ realize that he would still be there half and hour later, and an hour later, as the roommate took very slow small bites from the half-sandwich and carefully wiped his mouth slowly with a napkin after each bite.

That, and the roommate had a list of things he wanted to discuss. Or, perhaps, clarify is the better term.

He asked Aaron how he felt about sharing.
Aaron thought a second, not sure what he meant, then answered, “Well, I am bringing a fridge, and I don’t’ mind sharing that or drinks I put in it. But I know some girls share clothes, and I don’t’ feel comfortable doing that.” Plus, as Aaron told me, the guy would be too small for his clothes, anyhow.

The roommate then said, “Have you see Men in Black ( movie)?
“You know the egg chair? Well , I have one of those, and I am bringing it, and it is very important to me.
“And I don’t’ want you to sit in it, because I will get very upset.”
To which Aaron replied, “oh, okay.”

On Saturday, at his friends’ house, he recounted this story.
The oldest son, who is 20, and home from Yeshivah told Aaron that he was planning on coming to visit Aaron at his college.
When the roommate is out, he will take off his clothes, except for a nice cowboy hat, and sit in the chair. And when the roommate comes in, will merrily greet him with a “Howdy.”

So, after Aaron told me I could type up this story, he calmly told me that there will probably be a part 2. And possibly even apart 3.

I can’t wait.