Last week people began sending in answers to a question posted on Quora that read, «What is one moment in your life you thought could only happen in a movie?»
Some people began recounting rare celebrity encounters and there were even a few death scares, but one of the stories that stood out the most was submitted by Kevin Walsh, who shared a tale of a fateful phone call with his future wife.
Once upon a time I was 13 at a summer camp and the prettiest girl I’d ever seen walked right up to me and said “black is a good color on you.” No idea why. We chatted and became friends, exchanged AIM screen names (it was the time) and stayed in touch for a while.
We fell off each others’ radar some time in high school, but I can promise you that not a day went by that I didn’t think about that girl. Even now I’m not sure I can say why — something about her just stayed with me.
Walsh went on to explain how he fell into a deep depression in high school and eventually decided to take his own life.
Somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds before I would have committed suicide, my phone rang. I checked the caller ID — I couldn’t die not knowing. It was a number I didn’t recognize, so I picked up and it was her.
I asked her what was up and she said she just felt like she had to call me. At that point it had been a year since we had spoken, and at that moment she just had to call. Long story short, she pried, I spilled the beans and she talked me out of it. I mean she literally said “What? Don’t do that.” And that was that.
She made me promise to call her the next day, and we hung up. That night I started writing the words which, ten years later, I’d propose with.
Here is the picture Walsh posted of him and his wife, Blake, on their wedding day.
Unsurprisingly, his answer has already received over 298,000 views. «The comments have been unbelievably kind; most are congratulatory and uplifting,» Walsh told BuzzFeed.
According to Walsh, the best thing you can do if you ever feel like suicide is your only way out is to simply talk to someone.
«There is power in saying it out loud. There’s a good chance that the moment it comes out of your mouth you’ll realize it isn’t what you want at all,» said Walsh.
Thank you, Kevin Walsh, for sharing your story and for reminding others that things do get better.
