Once there were a bunch of uni students who all lived on the same floor of a dormitory. Most of them were good friends, but one was a bit immature and annoying. Most of the students living on that floor avoided her, and she went through several roommates before one kind young woman volunteered to be her roommate. At the end of the year, may of the students moved into off-campus housing, and one of the students who hadn't had much patience with the young woman while living in the dorm took the time to get to know her better. They became good friends, with the off-campus friend inviting the on-campus friend over occasionally to watch movies or share a meal.

By the start of the following year, this had become a weekly ritual. The on-campus friend's roommate gathered a bunch of friends together and informed them that the on-campus friend had a birthday shortly after the semester started and that no one had ever noticed in the hub-bub accompanying the start of the term. The off-campus friend volunteered to host a party and the friends started making grand plans for a surprise party. A collection was taken up for party food, her favorite movie was acquired on video, someone finagled a ride to the closest town with a supermarket, 17 miles away, to get a cake. Several flavors of Ben and Jerry's ice cream were purchased, and pizza was ordered, one with all her favorite toppings on it. One friend was nominated to get her to the party. On the day of the party, all the friends were busy getting all the final details taken care of. When she walked in the door of the off-campus friend's apartment and everyone yelled "Surprise!", it took her a while to realize that 1) it was a party, and 2) that it was for her. When she realized what was going on, she exclaimed "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me!" and burst into tears. When she had stopped crying, the friends learned that no one had ever thrown her a party before in her life. And the friends all realized that they had done not a nice thing, but a truly amazing thing.

I lost contact with Jess a long time ago, and have always felt bad about it. And I have always remembered how it felt when we discovered that she'd never had a party. I've tried numerous sites on the internet over the years and always came up empty - until tonight. She joined Facebook about a week ago and tonight has been spent messaging back and forth. I'm sitting here typing with a big smile on my face, I'm glad to have my friend back, and doubly glad I took the time to get to know her and to be the host for that party and all the movie nights we had.