Adopt a Stranger

So, I have to tell you this story. I just sold my keyboard on Saturday to this wonderful man named Jordan. He is a gem. I get this call from him on Saturday morning and he proceeds to tell me his life story. He's 62 years old, just lost his wife to a terminal illness, had to sell his 6' Grand piano to help pay for her funeral, has Agent Orange from Vietnam, doesn't have a lot of money because his first wife is giving him problems, he's taking independent study classes at BYU to keep him busy and he would like a piano of some sort to get some music back in the house. Yes, he told me all of this while I was on the phone with me. So, he tells me that he wants my piano, but he has to run to the bank first to get the cash and asks if we can deliver the keyboard to him.

Ok, so maybe this sounds sketchy to some of you. My brother totally thought he was a fake, but I didn't really have a bad feeling about it, so we just ran with it. Of course I made Brian go with me because I'm not stupid....and this guy, Jordan, also told me that I was not allowed to carry anything because I'm pregnant. :)

Anyway, so we get to this guys apartment and wait for him to get home from the store. He gets there about 5 minutes later, steps out of this car- huge Polynesian guy that totally does NOT look like he's 62 years old other than his slightly graying hair. He grabs 4 grocery bags out of his car and starts walking to his apartment. At first we were thinking, "This guy totally doesn't live up to his story" and then he walked up his stairs and we thought he was going to die. He refused to let me help him with his groceries....but I really didn't think he'd make it. Every step took huge puffs of air to survive and he looked as if he was going to pass out on each one. He only had like 12 steps to go up, they weren't anything super hard or anything. So, he finally makes it into his apartment sits in the one chair that he owns and immediately gets back on oxygen. I felt sooo bad for him! You know when you meet someone and you just want to give them a big hug and say, "I love you, so come to my house for Christmas!" Well, that's how I felt about this man. He huffed and puffed his oxygen tubes the entire time we were there. We set up the keyboard for him and told him that we would only take $100.00 for it instead of what we were asking. He insisted that we take $120.00 since we delivered it (a whole 6 blocks away from our house....that was a huge inconvenience...let me tell ya) and that if that wasn't a good excuse he told us to take the money as a baby present. My refusals didn't do anything for me and he made me take what he was giving. So, yes I believe his story and yes, I think he is a gem. I want to adopt this strange man and make him milk and cookies as he plays my keyboard. I love him.