Day 18

Today's favor was about comfort. I received a request from a friend out of the area asking me to contact one of her close LA-based friends and see if she needed help with anything. My friend told me she wished she could personally do a favor for her friend, but logistically it was tough to manage. I said, "Don't worry, I will be able to help on your behalf. Just send me your friend's info and I will do the rest."

After a few rounds of phone-tag, I connected with the intended favor recipient. At first the woman seemed hesitant to receive any sort of help or favor; I persisted, "It does not have to be something big...our friend just wants you to have a small lift to your day!" I offered a few suggestions and hearing these she chose one and replied, "OK, I love coffee. How about taking me out for coffee?" I happily agreed and we scheduled a time to meet in Marina del Rey (her neighborhood).

As soon as I entered the coffee shop she chose for us to meet, I knew the favor was about much more than just a hot, caffeinated beverage...I just could not articulate it yet. I ordered both of our drinks and sat at a small table she selected earlier. The table's wood shimmered in the reflection of the mid-day sun and again I had a feeling our meeting was a catalyst for something greater than previously imagined.

The drinks arrived and we both sipped them slowly and munched quietly on our respective lunches. I showed the woman my blog on my MacBook and told her the coffee favor would be shown tomorrow. She asked me to tell her the impetus for the 32 Favors project which I did and then when I finished the seemingly epic tale, she added, "Wow! I think this is exactly what is needed right now. So many people are struggling...What a great idea." We continued to chat freely and soon discovered we are both on a similar path of self-discovery just in different forms.

Hearing her words seemed like an echo of my my voice and it was then I realized what the favor was really about: we both are in need of comfort. For her, comfort is necessary to feel good about a recent tough decision and for me I need comfort to know it is OK to ask for what I want. Our commonality did not go ignored and it seemed as though both of us felt the graceful similarity of the other by the end of our coffee meetup. We entered as strangers and left our meeting as known friends.