What it means to be a friend.
Recently, a friend of mine was talking to me online and told me that she has become so broke, that she is starving because she can no longer afford to eat. This is a friend I've had since high school, and, even though we lost contact for a few years, the second we hung out again, it's like no time had passed, we were instantly like we had seen each other the week before.
Anyway, I recently was in a horrible financial situation, and so my father got an appraisal for stuff I had inherited when I was young, and it was worth enough to eliminate my credit card debt which had nothing but increased exponentially since moving out here. So I know what it is like to be on the verge of tears because you can't make the minimum payments on your bills that month and the feeling like you are never going to get out from underneath that dark cloud. I wouldn't have been able to recover from that debt for at least a year, if not a few.
So, with this giant weight off of my shoulders, and hearing that a friend was in such a bad situation, I decided I needed to help out, if it was only a little. So I sent her a $50 gift card to a supermarket that is near her. She thanked me a few days ago, and said she would call me very soon, but I haven't received a call from her yet. Today I got this message from her, and felt like I needed to share it because it was one of the nicest, most heartfelt messages I have ever received, and makes me so happy that I could have that impact:
"Hey Jarrod.. you are really cool, you know that??
Everytime I try to call you though, I actually start crying, so umm yeah, that's why you haven't really heard from me, sorry. It's just been really rough for me and stressful and everytime i think of what you did, i don't know. It's just that no one has ever done anything like that for me, and didn't think anyone ever would. It's cool to have a real friend, not just someone who is there to have fun and only hangs around when everything is going good. thanks for sticking around and helping out during one of my worst times.. ok, in tears again. man.. you just don't know how awesome and thankful i am to have a friend like you. Thanks Jarrod :) and i'm going to try calling you again in a bit.. you'll probably hear from me before you get this message, we'll see."
Anyway, I recently was in a horrible financial situation, and so my father got an appraisal for stuff I had inherited when I was young, and it was worth enough to eliminate my credit card debt which had nothing but increased exponentially since moving out here. So I know what it is like to be on the verge of tears because you can't make the minimum payments on your bills that month and the feeling like you are never going to get out from underneath that dark cloud. I wouldn't have been able to recover from that debt for at least a year, if not a few.
So, with this giant weight off of my shoulders, and hearing that a friend was in such a bad situation, I decided I needed to help out, if it was only a little. So I sent her a $50 gift card to a supermarket that is near her. She thanked me a few days ago, and said she would call me very soon, but I haven't received a call from her yet. Today I got this message from her, and felt like I needed to share it because it was one of the nicest, most heartfelt messages I have ever received, and makes me so happy that I could have that impact:
"Hey Jarrod.. you are really cool, you know that??
Everytime I try to call you though, I actually start crying, so umm yeah, that's why you haven't really heard from me, sorry. It's just been really rough for me and stressful and everytime i think of what you did, i don't know. It's just that no one has ever done anything like that for me, and didn't think anyone ever would. It's cool to have a real friend, not just someone who is there to have fun and only hangs around when everything is going good. thanks for sticking around and helping out during one of my worst times.. ok, in tears again. man.. you just don't know how awesome and thankful i am to have a friend like you. Thanks Jarrod :) and i'm going to try calling you again in a bit.. you'll probably hear from me before you get this message, we'll see."