The one where the Universe made me cry

Wed, Jun 04 2008 by Vanessa.

The Universe is very tricky. Very tricky indeed. Sometimes I feel so completely exhilarated because I am given proof that the Universe listens. Sometimes I am filled with laughter that cannot be contained because the Universe listened and gave me what I said I wanted which wasn’t really what I wanted but technically was in fact, what I asked for. Today the Universe has made me cry. You see, in the past few months I have lost a friend. Someone I called a brother … I’m so sorry Drew (my real brother) for giving him the same title you have earned and truly deserve. A dear friend has turned out to be nothing but a disappointment … a back-stabber … a money-hungry asshole.

This sort of realization is hard to take. It’s hard to accept that I was so stupid … I was conned into believing I really truly had a friend for life. John and I always tried to be there for him and his wife. Whether it was building an addition onto their house into the wee dark hours of Texas night, or making them weeks worth of food when their child was born (no, it wasn’t good food because I cooked it but it was food nonetheless), or even having John jump into their car on a moments notice to drive across the country so that they could get home in time to say good-bye to a dying relative, we always tried to be there. Why wouldn’t we? They were our friends, a title that we do not lightly throw about and distribute like one cent gum balls.

Anyway I now realize that my “friend” has an uncanny ability to look you straight in the eyes and lie like no other while somehow extending an invisible arm around your back in order to magically materialize a long, sharp, gleaming knife which he proceeds to twist and turn into your back, again, all while smiling and staring you straight in the eyes. It’s a sickening talent that I hope, few people have. So the latest twist of the knife came a few days ago, unbeknownst, to John and I. You see, our “friend” still works for the company that John helped start and has decided to withhold payment owed to us until some (probably) half-assed contract designed to screw us as much as possible is signed. That’s the stab of the knife. The twisting of the knife came when I sat down to do bills and found out that money had not been deposited into our bank account as it always had been and then finding out that no one bothered to tell us about this contract, nor were they going to. Apparently, it’s okay to muck with people’s lives, treating them as though they are robots. Apparently it’s okay to cut off someone’s income (after explicitly stating that no interruptions will occur) just ’cause you get a weird sense of superiority by controlling someone’s life like that. I’m willing to bet every last cent I have that the excuse will be something to the effect of “I have to make important business decisions because I have the overwhelmingly important job of keeping this place running and therefore, before I hand over the money that you helped us earn, I’m going to try to force you into a corner and make you do something you’ll regret later … because I’m a big-chested oh-so-important businessman.” Funny, I don’t remember many educated business decisions being made while we were part of the business. Why would he start now? Oh yeah, don’t forget that these words will be uttered by our “friend” while looking us straight in the eyes, smiling like a plastic game show host doll and then making sure to utter how important it is for him to help us transition through this hard time. Go to hell.

So, back to the Universe. Of course, action needs to be taken because our checking account is lower than I expected it to be at this point in the month. Not to fear though … we know how to handle money and don’t beg and plead for someone to help us out of a continual stream of financial messes like the other partner of our previous business. Saving money has been an art that we mastered years ago. We will be fine and I started telling myself that when I found out the news … I’ve been telling myself that we’ll be okay all day until I finally had the chance to sit down and start up my trusty financial friend, Quicken. Anyway, as it turns out, this month our insurance bill was only $9.66 or some crazy low amount. Plus, I found out our school loans are paid through December 25, 2009 … that’s like 18 months from now. Plus we have another sizable credit coming in from another source. I kept telling myself that we’d be okay. I truly believed those words. If you know me, you know that typically a psychopathic ax-wielding Vanessa would have grown 10 times her regular size, turned all green and could have accompanied the Hulk on any adventure and held her own after an event like this. However, in my quest to start Section 2 I’m changing my views on life, including money and the Universe has come through. I cried when I saw all these ways that the Universe reduced our bills this month, giving us more than enough breathing room and proving once again, our ex-friend sucks and no matter how many tricks he pulls, we will win. Why will we win? Because our hearts and intentions are pure. Our world does not revolve around money. We refuse to knowingly stab ANYONE in the back, much less our friends.

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