Monday at the BY

N pointed out that a week from tonight, I'll be headed to the airport to pick her up. And a week from tomorrow, we see many BY friends. I'm so excited.

Here's my latest from my weekly BY group. NFN has been asking to hear more about my living situation--I could write for weeks--you all might hear some of it next weekend. But here's a little bit.

Sara unlocked the door to the apartment and stepped inside. She dropped a blue plastic bin overflowing with math tests and noun worksheets on the floor of the living room and grabbed a coke from the fridge. None of her roommates were back from work yet, so Sara settled in on the living room floor with her green pen, grade book and papers.

About halfway through the math tests, Sara heard a key in the door. Allison walked in and was down the hall in her bedroom before Sara could even say hello--not that Sara made any effort to call after her, either. After a year of living together, Sarah had grown tired of making the effort. Maybe this made her an equal partner in the problem.

Allison came back down the hall to flip through the mail on the kitchen table. She hadn't been home in a few days, so there was a stack.

"Hi, Al," Sara said, hesitantly.

Allison mumbled a greeting in return.

"How's it going? How's geometry?"

"Fine. Busy," Allison replied quickly before returning to her bedroom.

When Allison left 20 minutes later, Sara didn't even look up from her papers.

If someone came into the apartment and didn't know any better, one would assume that a group of friends occupied the small 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. The mantle and bookshelf were scattered with old family and friend photos of all four girls. Two desktop computers sat side-by-side on a long desk against the back wall of the living room.

Not so obvious was the fact that the four girls only had one bookshelf and one mantle, so it had to be shared space. The second bedroom was just big enough for two twin beds and two dressers, so the computers had to be in the living room. The kitchen table, which appeared homey with four bright placemats, was rarely used.

Sara had been sharing this space for almost a year. When she had decided to move 3,000 miles from home, the thought of living "in community" was appealling--not so scary to leave your whole world behind if you weren't going to be alone.