I was paid a visit by my landlord who told me he had heard from an anonymous source that due to the COVID-19 pandemic I had lost my job.
Concerned that I would no longer be able to pay my rent, he told me he wanted me to vacate the apartment and gave me the weekend to move out.
Having always paid my rent and giving the landlord no indication that I would be unable to keep paying it, he refused to listen to reason and made sure I understood that I had to be out of the apartment in two days' time.
As the landlord walked away, I notice some of my neighbors, young adults I had always assumed to be university students, had overheard my heated conversation with the landlord and approached me.
They said they couldn't believe what they had just seen and felt bad for me. They asked if there was something they could do for me.
I said I appreciated their concern and took them up on their generous offer and asked if they wouldn't mind helping me pack, to which they kindly agreed.
My neighbors got busy packing, first stripping the beds and making sure the bedrooms were well cleaned.
One of them suggested I go and pay a visit to her friend who ran a boarding house for business travelers and she would call her to tell her my predicament and that I'd be on the way over.
I thanked her and put the address of the boarding house on my phone, noticing it was actually just around the corner, so moving my things over would be quite easy.
I arrived at the boarding house and was greeted by the owner who told me she had just gotten off the phone with her friend who informed her I would be interested in a room.
The woman showed me a large studio telling me it was the last one she had available and would it suit my needs.
It was a beautifully decorated studio, almost the size of my previous apartment and had loft bedroom above the kitchen. The entire studio was newly furnished and I told the woman I'd be very willing and grateful to rent it from her.
Just then, my neighbors arrived carrying in the first few boxes and suitcases with my belongings.
They asked me if I was happy with the studio and I thanked them for all they'd done for me.
As my new landlord was walking out of the studio, I stopped her and asked her about the lease and rent. She said that my company would be taking care of all the expenses, welcomed me again to her boarding house and walked away leaving me all but speechless seeing how I didn't have a job, therefore no company to pay my expenses.
As my neighbor was setting a pile of my clean laundry she had just washed on the sofa, I told her what her friend the owner of the boarding house said and asked her what she had told her and perhaps there may have been a misunderstanding. I told her the woman said that my company had paid for everything.
My neighbor said there was no mistake that she and her roommates who had been helping me move out owned a tech start up and were hiring me to be their fitness and mindfulness advisor; if I wanted the job which she added was very well paid.
Shocked and in disbelief of her kindness and generosity, I confessed that I was pretty much unqualified for that role and she told me not worry and that they would provide all the training I needed.
One of her roommates and partners in the tech firm walked over and, after setting another pile of clean laundry of the sofa, asked me if I wanted to check out the fitness facilities at the office and told me to change into some workout clothes.
We arrived at the campus and I was amazed to see it was something out of Silicon Valley, with a beautiful modern building set on a small parcel of land surrounded by grass, tress and perfectly manicured hedges.
We arrived at the outdoor training facility and joined a group of employees who were in the middle of a calisthenics class. I followed along as the class was running in place lifting their knees high into the air.
After the class, the young man asked me if I'd like to go for a run. I felt a bit ashamed to admit it, but I told him I'd never run or jogged a day in my life, that walking was my preferred method of aerobic exercise.
He told me that running was easy and thought perhaps I had some medical reasons for not wanting to run.
I told him I didn't, that walking was a way for me to relax and connect with nature while getting some exercise.
Just then, I saw a couple of butterflies landing on a bush and pointed them out to the young man, saying if we had been running, we would have missed out on seeing such a beautiful sight as the butterflies.
He agreed and admitted he'd never thought about walking in that way and from that moment on he would walk for exercise instead of running. He thanked me for opening up his eyes to something so beautiful.
Then I woke up.
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