Section 2

Murfreesboro always seemed like such a boring town, filled with college students, and senior citizens that had lived at the same house on 12th Avenue for the last fifty-seven years. My best friend of nine years bought a house close to the MTSU campus. It was a fixer-upper with worn out carpet that if I tried to guess, was originally white. The light fixtures and appliances seemed to have been from an old sears catalog from the ‘70’s. It was not a very large house, just three bedrooms and a single bath. But amidst the old furniture and plain white walls, it was home, for now. It was home for me and five other men, all living different lives, with different personalities and different stories to tell. Somehow, we made it work. Bradley, my best friend, who was the owner of the house, was just a few months younger than me. We met at a local parks and recreation center when we were just fourteen. He resembled Harry Potter. We were both athletes whose primary sport was basketball. I had been playing basketball at a competitive level for a year and after playing a few pickup games, asked Bradley to tryout for my team. From that day forward, we were like brothers. We did everything together.
Michael, roommate number two, was Bradley’s younger brother. He was a fairly serious kid and also played sports. Michael, although being the youngest in the house, was not only the most overall responsible guy in the house, but one of the most responsible in his family. He was a student at MTSU.
Adam K. was roommate number three. I called him “Paul” which was short for Paul Bunyan. Paul was a year younger than me. He could have easily been mistaken for a bodybuilder or a bouncer at a club in Nashville. Paul was massive and one of the physically strongest guys that I had ever seen in person. He was originally from Florida and was a devout Christian that always kept busy with church gatherings or functions. He was a great friend and role model. Whenever Adam K. was around the house, we would engage each other in deep theological, biblical and spiritual conversations. One night, Adam K. and I were having a conversation about church. I was expressing my thoughts and views about church to him. He was always open minded and always offered and ear to listen. The discussion came up when I asked him how things at his church were going. He responded in his typical way, being detailed and finishing with an, “everything is great.”. He started asking me why I didn’t attend church anywhere. I knew the answer before he finished the question. I had attended church during my entire childhood and all the way through high school. There were a number of reasons why I had stopped going to church services. I had quite a few friends that weren’t Christians. Through relationships with them, I learned that their reasons for being absent from church were very similar to mine.
Adam P. was roommate number four. Adam was stoned eighty-three percent of the time that I knew him. He was a twenty-seven year old MTSU student that had responded to an ad on Craig’s List that Bradley has posted when he was looking for new tenants. Adam P. had lived a tough live, from what he had said. He had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy after his term and was pursuing a career in aviation. I never quite understood the guy.
Chad was roommate number five. Chad had moved from Florida with aspirations of becoming a career singer/songwriter. He was the father of the house, not in any other way than in the amount of years that he had lived on the earth. Chad was thirty-five and always seemed like a lost soul, always searching for truth and answers about everything, always having to validate his existence.