Wyche House Single Room (Prompt #6 - Moving In)

by Henry Kuo

I remember learning early on of one other familiar person (besides my home school classmates) accepted to NCSSM that first year - John Humphrey from Sanford.  We had actually met at a summer camp during a summer at Appalachian State University.  We communicated by mail (as there was no internet, no email, no cell phones, no texting) and learned during the summer prior to moving in that we both were assigned single rooms on the second floor of a dorm called Wyche.  On move in day, I remember Jon Miller helping us unload and move in.  I had the first room on the right when entering the second floor.  John Humphrey was a few doors down on the left.  Maybe, because of our single rooms, maybe because of our past relationship, but John and I hung out together a lot those first few days.

At first I was kind of sad not to get a roommate.  Thought it might be a bit lonely.  But, after moving in, I learned what a privilege it was to have a single room.  It was spacious and of course private.  I could come and go without regard to disturbing a roommate.   I could choose my own times to go to sleep and wake up without regard to a roommate.  And, perhaps the best, others liked to come to my room to hang out so as not to disturb their own roommate.  My room shared a wall with the Resident Advisor Branson Brown's apartment.  We all know Branson was married to Joanie, and Joanie was pregnant.  It was not too long after move in day, that Brennen was born.

It was not bothersome, but I could hear Brennen cry on occasion.  I am sure that meant they could hear noises from my room, such as the early alarm clock, and the late night talks.  Reason I am sure, one night we were up talking in my room into the early morning hours, and Branson came over to tell us in a not so pleasant voice that we were keeping them up.  I often wonder what he heard us teenagers talking about.

I have always felt a special relationship to Branson, Joanie, and Brennen - and to this day, I have a relationship with them.  Maybe that all started because of the proximity of our rooms.