A friend called me at 2:30am, asking me to please come and get her. She didn’t explain but she sounded upset, so I broke a few speed limits. When I arrived, she was standing outside with 4 suitcases and a pile of bags. They’d been living together for two years, but he’d ended it that night. She didn’t have a car, had just lost her job, and was 2000 miles from her family. He told her she didn’t have to leave, to take her time and find another job, etc.

But those were her exact words to me, standing there in the dark with her stuff in garbage bags — I don’t live here anymore. The next day, I used my boyfriend’s truck and we got the rest of her stuff while her ex was at work. She never went back, even when he “wanted to talk”.

She told me later that she had about $142.00 to her name that night. What a badass she was (still is!).