A Couch is a Home

by Travis Rocha

The couch my roommates and I share holds a lot of memories that are near and dear to us. It was purchased earlier in the semester off craigslist. And yes, that might not sound like the most reputable site to buy a couch from, but, as broke college students, we simply had no choice. Nonetheless, we picked it up without a hitch. Truth be told, the thing was a beaut. It was a huge couch, separated into two parts, forming an ‘L’ shape. We lugged, pushed and pulled it into our room and when it was all said and done – we sat.

In fact, we sat quite a bit. We laid down, slept, stood, stomped jumped and did an infinite amount of other things on that couch. It wasn’t just us either. At this point, I’m sure over 100 people have plopped down to take a seat on that couch. Friends, family, project partners, acquaintances, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends RAs and everyone in between has spent some time on that couch at one point or another. Of course, we haven’t kept it  in mint condition. With so many people coming and going, we’ve spilled food and drinks plenty of times. Though, it’s not just stains that have been added to the couch. Throw blankets and pillows have been gifted to us and now they call the couch their home, accenting the furniture piece with an eclectic flare. It’s an amalgamation of everyone who has ever sat on it and the culmination of all of our relationships at Christopher Newport. In fact, frankly, it’s no longer our couch. It’s everyone’s couch because without everyone, the couch would have never realized its full potential – a beacon of social interaction.

I would go over all the memories we’ve had on the couch, but I’m sure that’d take me, well, about a year, which is the amount of time we’ve had the couch. I’d ask that you take some time to think about your couch at home and all the memories it holds. Not only for you, but for everyone who has ever spent time on it. It’s really quite amazing. We’re having some friends over tonight and you can bet we’ll pile onto the couch, overflowing onto the armrests because no matter how big your couch is, it’s never big enough. If you come to Christopher Newport, you’ll have a couch too. You’ll also have a lot of other couches, because each of your friends will have their own couch as well. Christopher Newport is a place to connect with people and create lasting bonds and memories that will endure for a lifetime. This is a place you can call home.