My very own domesticated domestication

Last year when I was living in the dorms I had to idea who my roommate would be. I was nervous, of course. I'm not very clean and I'm lazy and I could see how someone might be irritated with living with me. (isn't it interesting how i was worried how I would effect the other). Long story short I got a great roommate who never judged me and even encouraged my domestically challenged ways.

Now I live with my brother. He's a year younger than me and we've always been close. It's natural that we would make good roommates because we're so used to being around the other in a domestic setting. we've been trained to domesticate ourselves to the other and to like people because it's all we've known. Would I have different antics had I grown up around a different family with more sisters than brothers or maybe on a farm rather than in the city? Yes. I would.

On the subject of labor and work put into these domestic relationships, my brother and I only get along because we have mastered the art of maintenance in our relationship. We know what the other will think is funny and so we know what jokes to crack. We know what the other likes to eat so we know what to buy and what to leave for the other. We know what annoys the other so we know how to act and when to keep our distance.

The labor that goes into our relationship is all we've known. By breaking that domesticity we break our habit and make the other or ourselves uncomfortable...