I moved in November of 2015 and moved out in August of 2017. I shard a small room with a ex-homeless veteran. I was 55 and he was about 28. Being around the other residents was good for me and so was sharing the room. But I valued the time when I had the room to myself.
Usually, we were both there during the day until dinner time. We both kept different hours, he liked to stay up all night playing video games and go to sleep at 4:30 am and sleep until 12:30 pm. On the days I went to work it was fine but on my days off it was a pain being in the same room all day. Then we both went to dinner at 5:00 pm and then after dinner we would both be in there until I went to sleep at around 11:00 pm or 12:00 am.
There were certain patterns and exceptions during the year. He would visit his girlfriend twice a week; she lived down the street. So I had the room to myself until about 11:00 pm and I valued the time. And during basketball season he would go to the TV room 3 nights a week to watch the Warriors play. When you are living and sleeping 5 feet away from another adult, day in and day out, it was nice to get a break from him.
Then near the end of my stay he started going out about 5 nights a week. He had made a friend there and would go hang out in the guys room with his girlfriend. And I remember I had good memories of the time. We would both go to dinner in the dining room at 5:00 pm. Then we would both go back to our room. He would leave after half an hour. We lived exactly next door to the 7-11. I had some credit cards and I used to go to the 7-11 at least 4 times a day for a bottle or two of soda. I would drink Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi or Diet Root Beer or 7-Up. That was my main entertainment sometimes. There was really nothing to do at the house except watch TV so I would buy a soda and sit by myself outside and drink it and everybody left me alone.
Or I would get on my laptop in my room and drink soda and surf this site. I did this every day. And then when I knew my roommate would be gone at night 5 nights a week I would buy a couple of sodas and drink them by myself in our room. He would always stop back at around 7:30 for some reason. To get his phone or change his shirt or something. I would be settled in and around that time I would be out of soda so I started paying him to go to 7-11 to get me two or three sodas.
He didn’t work and had no income. I think he got $15 a month from SSI for spending money and he would blow the money in the first few days and be broke the rest of the month. So 7-11 sold hot dogs for a dollar and I would give him a dollar to walk to 7-11 for me and he would get a hot dog. We were both happy with the arrangement and those were happy days. Living there was not a picnic so small pleasures were a big deal, and I got used to the routine and I was happy with it. Good days. Every now and then I would give him $2.50 to walk to Walgreens which was further away but they sold two liter bottles of soda for only a $1.00 each and I would have him get me one or two bottles. I always had money and I really appreciated having someone to go get my soda for me so I could stay in my warm room with the radio on and my laptop. I was happy I could buy him the hot dog because I felt sorry for him that he didn’t have any money. Some nights I would go out but I usually stayed in the room most evenings.
Other good stuff happened to me there but these were some of my really good memories. Life in a board & care home.