A quick word

Or, knowing me, maybe not so quick, but what can ya do?

It's been a pretty tumultuous past couple of months for me and my family. We've had a lot going on, mostly regarding my daughter's surgery, and it's been taxing for me, my wife, and all the rest of my family. There's been a lot of things going on behind the scenes, and a lot of aspects of my life have just been kind of ugly. I've been saying a lot of prayers.

I came to you guys for help...and you came through for me. In spades. Some more than others, but that's not at all important. It doesn't matter how gave what, or how much. What matters is that you came through when someone was down. That doesn't happen nearly enough in this world.

I put up my appeal in a lot of different places. Here, a couple of other gaming sites that I haunt, my deviantart account, my blog. The people I expected to come through on the blog did so. No one did anything because of my plea on deviantart. The ones who came through the most, in many cases for someone they didn't even know?

The gamers. "Gotta take care of our own," one of them told me. Gamers bought my books, overpaid for them, wouldn't let me refund the difference between the agreed-upon price and what was paid to me. Some didn't want to buy anything, but insisted on giving anyway, asking for nothing in return. These were people I didn't know, likely won't ever get the chance to know, from many corners of the USA and as far away as Germany. That's not counting the well-wishes from those who couldn't afford to help financially.

I have never been prouder to be part of a community than I am to be a gamer right now. You have shown me a kindness and generosity I really didn't believe still existed. It's quite overwhelming, when I sit back and think about it. Strangers reached out to me to make it possible for me to take care of my little girl. I've thanked the guys who helped me out individually, but I wanted to take a little bit more time and thank...well, everyone. This community of ours.

Thank you, one and all.

Sometimes we find more help from relative strangers than we do from family and friends. I know I did, when faced with the very real prospect of losing the roof over my head. The people who made room in their home for me barely knew me, though we'd been acquainted with one another for years. Our only connection was through a group that met once a month for a few short hours, meeting that neither they nor I had been especially religious about attending.

"We're not letting you live on the street. That's not an option."

That's what I was told. Other relative strangers, mainly friends of friends who had little or no contact with me, provided space for me to store my things, their sweat to move those things, small gifts of money or food or little necessities... all unasked, all without so much as a word desired in the way of thanks. Many were embarrassed when I did thank them. These were the people who took care of me. I can never thank them enough. I'm glad to hear they came through for you as well, Patrick.