The Nicest Thing

My mother was driving me home from a get-together when a fight broke out. She didn't like how my friend, who had had some serious family difficulties, was living in a trailer home. Of course, the implication that this friend was the sort I shouldn't be hanging around with made me absolutely livid. So livid, in fact, that the entire ride home was an ear-shattering screaming match to end all screaming matches.

We had arrived home, still arguing, when she made a comment about my then-boyfriend's, Joe's, family. Bless that boyfriend's father's heart, he had mentioned in passing to my uptight, not-always-very-understanding mother that his eldest daughter had once been a druggie. My mother? Not pleased. You see, because there are certain people you shouldn't associate with.

At some point, this argument got so heated that I was screaming at the top of my lungs, waterworks in full effect. The crappy thing about fighting with my mother, though, is that no matter how crazily upset I get, she doesn't back down. She calmly walked upstairs, leaving me sobbing on the kitchen floor.

I called Joe, immediately, though I was still pretty incoherent. He asked what was wrong and I told him I didn't want to talk about. Honestly, I didn't; I just wanted to cry with someone, to hear a friendly voice. I didn't expect what he said next:

"I'll be right over."

That may not sound that impressive, but here's why it is: it was after midnight in the early days of January-- we're talking single digit temperatures, possibly below-zero windchill. He didn't have a car, so he borrowed a bike. The bike ride took him about forty minutes and he didn't even have gloves.

We sat on my couch together for several hours, until it was so early that I felt he had to leave or risk being discovered (he offered to stay the night, though). I showered him with "thank you"s and words of love-- I had never expected him to do what he did for me. He, on the other hand, seemed surprised that I wouldn't expect it. For him, it was his only option, the right option, to come to his girlfriend's rescue. All he asked for in return was a pair of gloves for the ride home.

What's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you?