The Odd Couple

By Sarah Harpold, Account Executive and Photographer/Videographer

A favorite catchphrase in the world of love has always been “opposites attract.” Whether that is a proven fact has been debated between couples and within society for ages.

While I’m no expert on love, there’s one relationship in my life that I have found that phrase to describe flawlessly – the one I’ve shared with my roommate, Allison.

One glance around our apartment and the casual viewer may become confounded with the eclectic contrast of tastes. Justin Bieber, Hannah Montana and Kobe can be found intermingling with Beats Antique, The Flaming Lips and Obama. Most areas maintain a clean and organized layout while others are clearly cluttered. And don’t even get me started on the DVD collections.

Jessica Simpson watches over her bedroom, Shepard Fairey over mine.

She can spend hours logging numbers. I worship the AP Stylebook.

So how has an Orange County princess and a salty Southeast Alaskan lasted four years?

I’ve got two words for you – acceptance and adaptation.

Acceptance

We know we’re different, quite possibly in more ways than we are alike. While our incongruent tastes have been the source of many debates and at times downright mockery, we’ve never expected the other to change.

I joyfully accept the fact that half of the items in our apartment are likely to be pink, and Allison doesn’t complain when I hang old concert posters and halfway-decent art projects.

Shared living spaces are not hard to manage when you can appreciate the fact that your home represents each of your personal tastes, whether they’re cohesive or not.

Adaptation

Instead of trying to smooth out our differences, we’ve practically grown to worship them. In exchange for proofreading her papers, Allison has been a math tutor to me on many occasions.

We have no idea what the other is talking about when it comes time to vent about difficult classes and stressful jobs, which is in itself provides a pleasant escape from the day-to-day.

With graduation fewer than 100 days away and a multitude of uncertainties looming in the future, we take comfort in one thing – if we’ve made it four years in Chico, we can make it anywhere.