9am - Not Just a Time of Day

My new roommate's name is 9am, simply because on the day I met him, it was at that time. I also met other prospective roommates - one at 8am and another at 10am. His background is Iranian, though he was born and raised in Chicago. He's a law student here, and so far, a great roommate.

And I'm not just saying that because he bought me flowers for Valentine's Day. (Please note they are not red roses. Thank you.)

A friend of mine told me having boy roommates are great. She used this example:

When you say to a boy roommate, "Hey, can you please not leave butter in the shower," they hear, "Don't leave butter in the shower." Whereas when you ask a girl roommate the same thing they hear, "Can you stop giving my cat bitchy looks, you skanky whore?"

9am is very direct, and very old-school gentlemanly. He opens doors for me, steps back so I can walk places first, offers to carry things (not even just heavy things, but anything), and often asks if I'm comfortable with things that are not my place to have any issues with. Like he offered to clean up his room if the mess bothers me. If I don't empty the garbage tonight, I am fully confident that he'll do it tomorrow. Is this what being married is like? If so, I need to tie the knot right quick.

I find living with 9am to be quite easy. One of the prospective roommates I met with a couple of weeks ago was a girl who, on paper, you'd think would have made a perfect roommate for me. She's a city planner - I've worked with lawyers who do Land Use. I grew up in NY, then moved to South Florida. So did she.

But there was an energy about her that I knew would not be good for me to live with - there would be serious power struggles. Not to mention her reason for wanting to move and get a roommate. She was looking to move out of a studio because she hoped that having a roommate would inspire her to be neater and cleaner. Even those of you who've never met me know that's not a good match with the neat freak I aspire to be.

9am and I do not have power struggles, or anything close to it. When one of us is going food shopping, we ask the other if they need anything. We both always say no, but it's nice to ask. And we don't get along only because we both eat peanut butter and jelly.