The Things They Don't Tell You About Moving In With Your Boyfriend.

Ryan and I moved in at the beginning of August, after an exhausting apartment-hunting process came to an end. 

For the most part, it's been dandy. He likes to cook. I like to clean. He doesn't seem to mind my strange obsession with lighting candles and I don't mind his large collection of beer-making supplies. It's going well.

Before we moved in, we remember hearing people say, "Oh, you are going to learn so much about each other", "Good luck, you two!", and "You never really know someone until you've lived with them". All of these seemed to have an undertone that sounded a lot like "Noooo! Don't do it - it's scary to live with a significant other! RUN AWAY." 

After a little over two months, we are both very happy living here together. Absolutely no blow out fights. We make pretty darn good roommates, if I say so myself.

But. 

What they don't tell you about living together is all of the stupid, little, just "living" stuff.

I heard about learning how to split bills appropriately. I was forewarned about the cleanliness of women verses the dirtiness of men (Ryan's not really that dirty, guys). I knew about being fair with chores. But, I missed the memo about what to do when I like to sleep in a freezing cold room, with the fan blasting on my face in the middle of October as his nose slowly forms icicles. No one told me about not being allowed to watch the Walking Dead until Ryan's in the other room because he doesn't like the noise of the walkers. (Read: I had to watch last Sunday's episode four days late.) And what happens when I like the lights on and he's trying to save money on the electric bill? Or when I swear there's a small part of our apartment that smells like ethnic food and he thinks I'm insane?

It's the little things they don't tell you. 

Maybe I like living one way (sleeping in a 45 degree room at night after watching the Walking Dead and waking up by turning on all the lights) and he likes living another way. But, hey, it's working and it's lots of fun.

Here's to many more happy months living together and many more strange little things I was never told about before.