There comes a time in a person’s life when he is so down and out that he just wants to be alone despite knowing that it won’t be of help in any manner. If such a person lives far away from family, his ultimate support system is undoubtedly friends.
Some friends wait for you to ask for help while there are some who analyze the situation and take action accordingly. At times, they might even take steps to help you without even asking you.
A writer, Sheila O’Malley whose Twitter handle is @sheilakathleen has narrated an incident in which her friend helped her and took some steps without even asking her or informing her.
Sheila was going through a bad phase as her father passed away. She moved in to a new apartment but was feeling ashamed as there had been months but she was not able to unpack. She thought how someone could not unpack for such a long time. That was the year she cried for 19 days.
David was Sheila’s good friend from high school and understood the importance of taking care of her. He knew that she was struggling and facing difficulties so he decided to do something which may have angered Sheila in return and might not have been good for their friendship but David was determined to take this step.
In her own words, Sheila said that she could have been really offended but David was fearless and he decided to do what he felt was correct for Sheila. He sent an email to a group of local friends and told them that Sheila was struggling and she needed help.
David sent Sheila an email in which he asked her whether she would be at her home on Thursday and he could stop by. She replied in affirmative while sitting around 200 unpacked boxes. This was going to be unexpected for Sheila as David had planned something really surprising for her but how she would react was the question.
It was 6PM when the doorbell rang and as she opened the door, 10 of her friends barged in. They had brought food and cleaning items and the amazing part was that they didn't even care for her to welcome them or refuse them to enter the house as it was still unpacked.
The friends got indulged in the work, they organized her books in the shelves, hung pictures for her, organized her clothes in the closet, etc. While this was happening in the rooms, someone in the kitchen started making tacos and beer was already with them. By the end of the night, her apartment was all set.
This humble act of her friends made her realize how inactive she had been due to which she could not even do even the simplest work. It's a thing of great admiration on the part of her friends that they didn't judge her but instead solved her problems like superheroes without any wish of taking the credit for the same.
A friend of Sheila took the responsibility of hanging all her photos and posters after boasting of her skills. When she tried to intervene, the friend was in no mood to listen and did things according to her own wish and simply asked her to go away. And guess what, she did as she was asked to!
Sheila was pretty much impressed with the work of her friend and she not only admired her but also accepted that the friend did it much better than Sheila herself. Subsequent to this, her friends started unpacking books and began to keep them at the right place, i.e., in the shelf.
After such hectic work, break for having meals was a must and everyone sat where they got place to sit. One of her friends was keeping her dinner plate on the DVD player but who would ask her to leave that, Sheila would not be doing that at least!
Sheila was not just impressed but very happy as well after seeing the condition of her apartment. She loved the way her friends barged in and the manner in which they took control of all the things was just awesome. She was embarrassed for first 10 minutes but after that, she also adjusted with them.
Sheila was at pretty loss of words when she faced the husband of her friend, who is a man of few words and tough resilient man. It is not easy to say thank you to everyone, especially those who worked and made things easy for her without saying or expecting anything.
The friend’s husband understood very clearly what Sheila wanted to convey and that all happened with just a look. He saw the look, understood it and also told Sheila as to what they did today was just barn-raising. Well, some people use fewer words to convey a lot of things.
Sheila feels that asking for help or advice has a factor of shame and helplessness but her friends are the best as they never asked; they just came and did whatever was necessary. While asking for help makes you feel unworthy, the manner in which her friends came made her feel important.
In a matter of 4 hours, Sheila’s apartment was a home and not just everything was at its place but now it had stories attached to it as well. Now memories have been added to it and she will always remember the hard work and the light moments of the duration.
Sheila once again said that it could have backfired as she might have felt insulted, offended etc. But still David took the chance and showed to everyone that friendship is all about the commitment to do what is necessary for the well-being of the friend without thinking much of consequences.
The celebration also took place as a person decided to hang Christmas lights on himself and it seems as if he is dancing to the tunes of a lovely song with a bottle of beer in his hand. Sheila’s favorite part is Liz doing her work without getting disturbed, as her head is visible in the side corner of the photo.
Liz also gave a message for the person dancing near her head and made it clear that for her, the work she was doing for Sheila was more important and she didn’t have time for anything else, as she was too busy to look upwards and see.
Great friends Sheila has, agree?