An Email From An Old Friend

I was in my office this morning and received an email that changed what I was going to blog about today. Before I share the email with you, I wanted to give you some background on it so you can follow along.

In February of 1990 I had decided to move back to the northeast from West Palm Beach, FL. I had been a stockbroker for two years after dropping out of Penn

State and missed the four seasons. I know most of you probably think I need my head examined and I must admit, now that I’m 38 years old, winters are much tougher than they were at age 20.

  Anyway, I wanted to get back up north where my friends and family were and my company had an office in Buffalo, NY. I received permission from my company to relocate to our

Buffalo office and now all I needed was a place to stay. One of my best friends had a sister who lived in

Buffalo, NY.

Her name was Carla Zandi.

 I called Carla and asked if she knew anywhere I could stay until I found a place. Carla said her roommate had just left and she had room in her three bedroom apartment, plus it would help to have someone split the rent. She also told me that a girl had just answered an ad in the newspaper to be her roommate so she would have to run it by her to see if it was o.k. that I lived there. The girl agreed and before long I was living the life of Jack Tripper on the old TV show Three’s Company. The envy of every guy in New York State. 

I must admit, that was one of the best summers of my life. My rent was $133 a month and I had left my stockbroker job shortly after moving to Buffalo. I found a bartending job for the summer and basically hung out and played Nintendo all summer. My how simple life was back then. My new roommates were awesome. Unfortunately Carla got laid off at her job that summer and had to move to another city. It was cool having her around because we would go out to bars together and just hang out talking. She would confide in me all her boyfriend and employment issues and I would listen and tell her she was crazy and that was about as deep as those conversations went.I lost touch with Carla over the years. I saw her a few years back when we were both in our hometown of

Bradford, PA. It was great seeing her infectious smile and reminiscing about the old

Buffalo days.Fast forward to the email I received this morning. It was from my old roommate Carla who I have barely spoken with over the past 17 years.

Here is the email exactly how it appeared:

Dear Mr. Crowley,
I hope that you remember me. We used to be roommates in

Buffalo. ; )
Carla Zandi here. Sam, I wanted to let you know that I have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and I am currently going through treatment. Your blogs have really inspired me and helped me find the motivation to keep going for the things I really want out of life. I have been at the same company for 15 years, and have been toying around with the idea of starting my own business selling my jewelry that I design (since diagnosis). Now, I’m seriously considering it..
Life is too short, and you have really found your calling. I am so proud of you and what you have accomplished.
Best wishes!
Carla Zandi

Wow.It was great to hear from Carla, but tough to hear how life had dealt her a tough hand. She is an awesome spirit and will be just fine, I know she has a great attitude and truly believe God will heal her.If you get a minute today, please send Carla a quick email of encouragement.Her email address is CShamblen@boatus.com 

It may take five minutes of your time but it would last much longer than that and mean so much to someone else. Even if you only have enough time to type “hang in there Carla.” And click send on your email, that would be enough. 

Thank you,

Sam Crowley

www.everydayissaturday.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 9:41 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.