3/5 My college roommate flew 3 hours to sit with me after I got laid off. I finally told him it meant a lot.

I got laid off Monday afternoon.

It was one of those calm, corporate calls. Thank you for your time here, tough market, all that. I said the professional things back and kept my voice steady until the call ended. Then I just stood in my kitchen for a bit staring at the counter like maybe another email would come in and undo it.

I texted a few people just to let them know. One of them was my college roommate. We’ve known each other a long time.

He replied with “I’m coming.”

I told him not to be dumb. It’s a three hour flight and it was already mid afternoon. People have jobs. He just said “I know.” Then he stopped replying.

About four hours later he knocked on my door with a carry on and his laptop bag.

Walked in, looked around, said “I can work from anywhere this week.” Then he set up at my table, opened his laptop, put on headphones, and started taking Zoom calls.

That was basically the next two days.

He worked. I sent out resumes and refreshed job boards more times than I want to admit. Sometimes he’d stand up and make coffee and ask if I wanted one. Sometimes we ordered food. Mostly we were just in the same room doing our own things.

At some point Monday night I started talking about how the last few months at work had actually been going. He didn’t try to fix anything. Just listened and kept typing.

He flew back Wednesday morning.

I dropped him off at the airport before traffic got bad. We stood by the curb for a second. No hug or anything. That’s not really our style. He just said “Text me later,” grabbed his bag, and walked inside.

I drove home, sat in the car for a minute, then went upstairs and started looking at job listings again.

Later I sent him a text saying thanks for coming out.

He just replied “yeah.”

Anyway. Just thought it was worth writing down.