Vortexia's Secret

Have you ever helped somebody completely on accident? It's a very strange situation. I somehow accidentally helped a couple this weekend. It turns out that a couple with whom I'm close was having a fight about some hurtful things said by a third party. I just happened to reply to a week-old email talking about how hard it was for them to be apart. I said that I knew how hard it was because I had done it for 3 years, but you at least learn the value of letting some petty arguments go. Apparently that advice spoke exactly to the problem they were having, and the girl assumed that I was giving that advice because the guy had told me about what was happening. After a shaky (and confusing) first email explaining that she still found it hard to deal with and me realizing that I had unknowingly stepped into a huge mess, something miraculous happened. I guess she must have shared the contents of the email with him, somehow it gave him the courage to talk to the third party, they made up, and voila the relationship was restored. This morning I found another email explaining the situation, apologizing for drawing me in and confusing me, and thanking me for sending them a miracle. Woah! I sat there for a long time absolutely STUNNED. How could I have helped without even knowing it? And in such an active role, not like recycling one piece of paper at a time eventually helps without you knowing you were a part of it. I helped completely on accident, just by being nice and willing to share of my own life experience. I felt awed and humbled. I just needed to share that.

On a more secular note, I got a new cell phone. Well new used. My roomietta (the good former roomie) switched phone carriers and offered me her old phone and all the trimmings for free. Now I truly loved my old phone (Motorola StarTac). We'd been through so much together, and have been together for around 4 years. I know I shouldn't feel an attachment to a high-tech piece of plastic, but I did. It kept me connected to the people I love for so many years, and we went through tens of thousands of minutes together. When calculating living expenses for FAFSA, my dad felt it necessary to include my cell phone plan expenses because he said it was such an integral part of my life. So after saying goodbye to my old phone and reminiscing on all the good times we had together, I entered the Spring store and asked them to switch me over. Although some of the new phones are much crappier than the older ones, the sales rep reassured me that they had gotten good ratings on this phone and had very few returns. I took a deep breath and told her to go ahead. After the surprise of it only taking about 10 minutes to walk in and out (and the transfer now being a FREE service!!!), I felt exhilarated by the new possibilities. Yes I realize that this makes me sound like a money driven 14 year old snot, but I can assure you that I am not (and you ought to know that by now anyway). Once I ran my other errands and returned home, I settled down to delete my roomietta's 100-some phone numbers to add my own 100-some phone numbers. What an ordeal! It took yesterday afternoon and a good chunk of today to get them all done. Now I have to actually get down to the work I needed to have gotten done today. Oh, so you're curious about the new phone? It's the Samsung A-620... a $300-some dollar camera-phone for free. I love my roomietta! Ok, gotta run now, but FEEL FREE TO COMMENT! Really!!!

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UPDATE: Apparently Bush in 30 Seconds was taken down, so I removed the link and added a site I found a while back and have been trying to find ever since. Faces of the Fallen puts a name and a face to the ever-rising death toll in Iraq. It's always a few weeks behind because they have to collect the information, but it's still very eerie and humbling. Take a look around...

P.S. Keep them in your prayers.