Dear 136,
The thought of trying to put into words how important, influential, and amazing my time was at 136 is not only daunting but seems nearly impossible. It feels as if there is no perfect way to capture all of the memories, time spent with friends, little conversations between classes, etc. that would do it justice. There are too many good times to recount. So, let me try and summarize it short and sweet up here, before I go into some more detail below:
136 – 1 house, 3 years, 6 new brothers.
The three years I spent in that house will undoubtedly be some of the greatest, most memorable times of my life, and the six roommates I had throughout that time will be my best friends for life – my brothers.
As Sean once wrote on the stairs of our house, “136 will always be home.” And while, yes, I felt an unbelievably close bond to the 6 others who lived in the house, it was by no means home to just us. Our doors were always open to any and all friends. It was rare to ever find the house occupied by only the 7 actual residents, and I know that many others hold 136 within a special place in their heart, as it was home to them too. Everyone knew you could stop by whenever, invited or unannounced, and stay for however long you wanted or needed. Behind this welcoming persona and the backbone of the house was, of course, Sean. As we know, people were drawn to hanging out with him. He was charismatic, caring, and, simply put, a fun person to be around. Sean would always be the one who would organize or invite our friends over and would always put others first. Sean took it upon himself to make sure that everyone that we were with was having a good time, and he’d do anything he possibly could to make sure that that was the case. No matter how bad a day you’d had or how stressed you may be about that upcoming exam, project, presentation, interview, or whatever else may be worrying you, Sean would always find time, no matter what he had going on in his life, to talk with you, joke with you, and simply help you forget about the stress. He had an uncanny ability to help you realize that nothing was ever really as big or important as it seemed in the moment, and he brought you back to reality and what was really, in the end, important: the fact that we were currently experiencing the best 4 years of our life, in the best house on campus, surrounded by our brothers and our best friends.
There are far too many great memories at 136 to go through them all. Some of the best nights that I can remember, though, were the more relaxed Summer nights, when the campus was empty and no other UD students were around. We’d spend these nights on the front or back porch with a close group of friends just reminiscing on old times, joking around, and creating new memories together. Or the nights that Sean would gather us all in the family room, make us wait up until midnight for the newest album from Drake to be released, and then subsequently have us listen to the album on repeat all night until 2AM. He would then repeatedly play that album throughout the upcoming weeks, non-stop, until we were almost tired of hearing it (the same could probably be said for Bieber albums as well). Or the countless games of Ping-Pong we’d play in the living room or Spikeball in the backyard. All of which, of course, got extremely competitive and probably resulted in a class or two getting skipped, or study time being forgone for “just one more game.” Of course, that one additional game would inevitably turn into a best of 7 series, and undoubtedly would end with some yelling and protests from the losers. But, looking back, I wouldn’t trade that time spent and those memories made for anything in the world. As a matter of fact, I wholeheartedly wish that I could have lost to Sean one more time in ping pong or Spikeball, or listened to “Views,” “Take Care” or “Love Yourself” just one more time while telling him he needed to find some new songs to play, or have shared just one more beer with him on the front porch of 136 – one more night, one more laugh, one more memory.
As I said above, Sean coined the term “136 will always be home.” But it is no longer just our home. It is incredible that we are opening it up to all of the students at the University of Delaware and is exactly in line with what Sean would want us to do. Although the doors were always open before, the ability and reach of “Sean’s House” is going to be so impactful on campus. I truly look forward to hearing more about all of the good it will do throughout our campus and the plethora of students that it will help. I could not think of a better way to carry on Sean’s light and spirit of inclusiveness and positivity. Sean used to take on the burden of shouldering all of our problems, always putting our feelings first, and helping all of us feel better all by himself. Now, “Sean’s House” will have an entire staff to take on this important challenge for our whole campus. I’m looking forward to the opening and for everyone to get to experience and understand why 136 truly is home!
-Hydie, 136 Family Member