An old friend

I haven’t quite made up with Dad yet, and Eliza’s also upset with me, so my company has been Ruth, Will, and, this week, another old friend, a roommate from college who messaged me on Facebook the other day. When she saw that I was in the city and she lived nearby, she wanted to get together.

            I’ll call this friend Sam. Sam was my roommate the year following my mom’s death, and while I never felt ready to talk to her about it, she was always very caring to me and practically kept me alive. She moved out just before I started dating Fred, so she doesn’t really know about him.  

            Anyway, there’s been a lot of tragedy in Sam’s life. A year after college she married someone, and they moved up here to the city for his job. Only, five years ago, he got fired and they didn’t have much money and they sure didn’t have any kind of insurance. They were trying to pick up the pieces when, on a foggy morning, they got into a car accident. Sam’s husband died, and Sam has been paralyzed from the chest down. With no health insurance, no life insurance, and no savings set aside for the young couple, Sam took a huge hit to her finances. Her in-laws paid for their son’s funeral, but didn’t approve of Sam and their son marrying so young, and have left her on her own. Her dad was never in her life and her mom doesn’t have much money herself, but does what she can. Sam can’t work much. She gets by on money from her little Etsy shop, as well as disability benefits from the government. 

            It was wonderful to see her, but also so sad. She’s living in the poor and dangerous part of town, but it’s all she’s able to afford. When I first pulled up to her apartment complex, I was really worried about how safe she was and how she coped in such a place. But once I actually began talking to her, it seems like her situation is, well, it’s still not good, but after talking with her, it seems to be alright. She’s never been taken advantage of, and she has one incredible neighbor who works as a maid, and volunteers to clean her apartment and do her laundry.

            I know Sam’s in pain and her situation is not what she expected her life to be, but she’s doing okay. The couple of times I’ve been over, I’ve asked her if there was anything I could do. She says all she wants is my company, as she’s lonely most of the day. That’s what she claims, but I’m definitely going to be looking for something more I can do for her.

            Most of the time, though, we chat about other things rather than dwelling on unfortunate circumstances. It was exactly what I needed, and I think what Sam needed, too.