By Susan Diamond
Patti:
It’s an unusual arrangement, I’ll grant you that, but it’s worked for us all these years. Meghan, Hilary, and I met at the University of Illinois during our freshman year of college while living at the 6th street dorms in 1998. We started as strangers trying to navigate the ways of independent living. You can say we grew up together, and you wouldn’t be wrong.
Meghan:
Patti is the glue that’s kept us together for twenty-two years; she’s the heart of our collective soul.
Patti:
Aw, cmon Meg – you give me too much credit.
Hilary:
Of course, you are, Patti, she’s right.
Let’s keep this story rolling. Meghan and I were roommates, Patti lived down the hall, the same floor. Her roommate had a boyfriend who was over, like ALL the time. Including overnights. And they were unconcerned about privacy – if you know what I mean. So Patti would come to our room when it became too uncomfortable, which was pretty much always, and the three of us ended up living together our Freshman year. Patti slept on a love seat we had wedged in under a bunk bed set-up my Dad built on
move-in day. We never felt crowded.
Meghan:
Yep, there we were, three teenagers playing house in Champaign-Urbana. We went to our classes, we ate in the cafeteria together, and we supported one another when there was a disappointing relationship, an impossible professor, or family problems. Thankfully there were less of those hard times and much more good times.
Patti:
We were a happy band of adventurers. We’ve been best friends since that first week in August when God brought us together.
Meghan:
We spent two years in the dorm, though a larger room opened up the second semester, and Patti got her own bed, dresser, and space in the closet.
Patti:
Yeah, that was a relief. But it was even better when you found our home.
Meghan:
Talk about a “pennies from heaven” moment!
Hillary:
We knew we wanted to live off-campus our junior year, and figured we get an apartment. Then Meghan noticed a “For Rent” sign in front of a gorgeous two-story vintage house with a front wrap-around porch; 303 Ivy Lane.
Meghan:
I had a babysitting job in Urbana. The Kenwoods lived in this beautiful neighborhood, strictly family residential, no college kids. I came back to the dorm and told the girls about it.
Hillary:
Meghan is a writer. Her description of the house could have been the opening paragraph of an Ann Patchett novel. She made the place real to us. I pictured it vividly in my mind. And as Meghan wove her story about the house, my mind was moving in the house.
Patti:
Me too. Sight unseen, I knew we had to have that house. We came up with a plan.
Meghan:
At that time, Patti was twenty-one years old with a dot-com notch in her belt. She developed a computer program for travelers to book their flights. The major airlines were working on a joint platform that later became the destination site for booking air, hotel, and rental cars. They wanted Patti’s IP (intellectual property). She sold it for five million dollars at the peak of the dot com craze.
Hillary:
We decided Patti alone would inquire and put in an application for the lease.
Patti:
But we all went to see it. And we all fell in love.
Hillary:
Our house has been a blessing to us through all of our adult lives. We were students living in 303 Ivy Lane, and we were new graduates. We are adult women with careers and relationships. All those years together and blissfully happy in our home.
Meghan:
Five years in and the landlord gave us an option to buy. We were happy to be settled in Urbana, we loved 303, we loved each other, and we made a deal.
Patti:
I know. It sounds weird—three straight women sharing a house when we all can afford to live on our own. But, spending twenty plus years together is more than a living arrangement. We are a family.
Meghan:
And our family is about to get bigger. We’re at a crossroads.
Hillary:
James and I are getting married next month. We’ve been together for ten years. We’ve been doing the long-distance romance thing and making it work. But it’s time. As my mother reminds me (daily!) I’m not getting any younger. Tick tick goes my baby clock.
Meghan:
Haha. I froze my eggs when I turned twenty-five. I’m a research doctor at the University here. My project on hair restoration had a breakthrough recently. A Fortune 500 company made me an offer I can’t refuse. With the University’s blessing, I’m taking my expertise private, where I can continue to refine the process. We’re making a hair replacement product that will be a game-changer for people living with Alopecia Areata and other conditions causing hair loss. I’m not doing a victory lap yet,
but the future looks promising.
Patti:
I’m going to serve. I begin seminary soon. I’ve taken my prerequisites online, and it’s time to enter the thick brick walls of spiritual learning in New York. I’m excited and nervous. God has blessed me with prosperity beyond expectations. It’s my turn to give back.
Hillary:
James and I will be living at the illustrious 303 Ivy Lane. It’s been my past, my present, and now it will be the future for the new family James, and I hope to have someday soon.
Patti:
We’re all looking for an exciting future. There comes a time when it’s the right time to move on, and bittersweet as it is; there comes a time when the time is right to move out.
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