Chapter 2--NeighBOR Chelsea

Chelsea packed her things and moved on a Friday. May 5, 2006 to be exact. She would be back the following semester, but it wouldn’t be the same. She wouldn’t have her own room and the house wouldn’t contain all of her things.

In my dreams, we all left at the same time. The three houses would pack together and go their separate ways all at once.

But that’s not how life happens. First, Emily left.
Then Jonathan and Tucker moved away.
Shambra got married and moved a couple of blocks away.
Allison bought a house all the way across town.
And then, it was Chelsea's turn.

It was so strange to go outside and see new cars at Southside. And to not be able to walk into either of those houses so freely was such and unfamiliar feeling.
It was odd to walk down the hall, open the door and not see Chelsea’s things.
So many times I would walk in there to borrow clothing and realize that those weren't her things.
To not know exactly where everything was made me feel like a stranger in my own home at times.
Who knew that looking in the kitchen cabinet and not seeing her dishes could make a person sad. But it did.

I remember the very first time that I met Chelsea. I went to 919 for Karaoke and Chelse came in, went straight to the kitchen, got a wine glass and filled it with red kool-aid and I thought to myself then, “I want to be her friend.” We then sang karaoke together and I learned that she not only was hilarious and entertaining, but also that she had a beautiful voice. A voice that would join mine at church functions and such through the next years. Her sense of humor was sadly, just like mine. We would randomly come up with characters such as “Claudia and Suzanne—the New York Talent Scouts” or “Sabatoo and Minotia—the Yoga Instructors” and even “Joey and Vick—Claudia and Suzanne’s mafia husbands”. Bless those around us who had to endure our random performances. We both had a lot of free time on our hands and would sometimes come up with musical acts to perform for Amanda when she got home from work.

One day I came home for lunch and my video camera was connected to my television. It had a note on it that simply sad, "Play Me". When I hit play, Chelsea appeared on the screen in full costume and character. She performed an entire skit by herself. That's one of my favorite memories!


We both love to write and express our emotions. I enjoyed being able to share my work with her. She was always so positive in her critiques, yet still honest.

Chelsea is so much more talented than I ever dreamed of being. She is what I would call a true artist. She can do anything—paint, draw, write, sing, acting—you name it and she can do it.

When I moved into the house, I knew that I would have roommates, but I never knew that I would also find my soul-mates. But that is what they are. They know me and love me, even when I don’t really know or love myself so much. They have been there when I was so mad that I couldn’t see straight and they got mad with me. They laughed with me until we all hurt. And, they cried with me, until I had no tears left.

I remember one time in particular that will always be so special to me. It seems insignificant to others, but not to me.
I had had one of my first heartbreaks and Chelsea and I were the only one’s left in the house. I was sitting on one couch and Chelsea sat on the other, opposite the room from me. We were both silent for along time; she never pressured me to talk if I didn't want to.  But then, she rose quietly from her seat, came and sat next to me, put her arm around me, and as the tears flooded out of me, she hugged me and cried with me.
You see, those are real friends. The ones that are not just there for you when you hurt or cry or are mad, but those that feel those emotions with you.

Chelsea, Amanda and I often made time for “Roommate Dates”, going to Bricktown to eat and just spending time together. Maybe if you are lucky, we will share with you the story about the famous game of “Scrabble” we once played... On these dates, we took each other out for the others birthdays and one time, an unbirthday.

We also had what we referred to as "Bathroom Tuesdays". This started one evening when we decided we would do pedicures. We all sat on the edge of the tub and washed our feet and began talking. We ended up sitting in that tiny bathroom together talking for hours. Why we didn't move into another room, I'll never know. But this became one of those things that we did often.

Chelsea’s parents owned an Angus ranch and every year they were invited to Express Ranches to the big Angus sale, dinner and concert. Amanda and I were invited to join and got to share in the fun. On those nights, to be able to get in to the event, we became the Thomas Sisters. Our families became one another's. We really loved each other like sister’s do.

A couple of days after Chelsea moved out, she came back to the house to stay with Amanda and I. She, Amanda, our new roommate Margarite and I were driving around in the rain, playing a prank on some of our other friends. We were laughing and listening to the radio when Delilah came on with a classic. We were singing along to “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” from “Dirty Dancing” when Amanda laughed and said something to the effect of how sad the song was and I remember thinking that it really wasn’t at all. But then, as I listened to the words about how this guy had had the time of his life with this girl and his life was forever changed,  it hit me.  She was right, it was sad. It was the perfect song to conclude this part of the soundtrack of our lives. Chelsea, Amanda, and I laughed and cried so hard all at the same time. I’ll never forget that moment. We just kept laughing as the tears flowed down our cheeks. We went home and pulled out the old green couch bed and slept on it together like little girls do. We giggled as we drifted off to sleep.

The next semester when Chelsea came back, the green couch bed became her bed. Many nights were again spent on it. We would all just lay there with our "butts together like quail" (no clue what that means but Chelsea always said it) and talk until we fell asleep.

The night of before college graduation, we slept there for the final time. We took turns before going to bed, doing a video diary to each other. We went into the bathroom for one last "Bathroom Tuesday", one by one and sat in that bathtub and spoke freely to the camera, expressing our love to the other girls. And then, we watched it together and made fun of ourselves for blubbering like babies.

I was a Communications major and Amanda and Chelsea were Art Majors so when we lined up we were not together. But, as we all sat down, it somehow worked out that we all were able to sit near each other. I think that was a little graduation gift from God to us.

I will never in my life find another “Celse”. She is truly one of a kind. When God made her, He smiled and said, “ I did good”. And she is--so very good. She is one of my life’s greatest blessings and joys.

Life was never really the same for 919 North Indiana. Another one had gone, leaving an imprint on my heart that had it’s own shaped hole that could only be filled with wonderful memories.

And oh, the memories it holds! Because “I’ve had the time of my life, I swear it’s the truth” and Chelsea, I owe a lot of it to you!