A few weeks ago, Mark came to me and asked if we could loan a considerable amount of money out to a friend of his because he was going through some hard times and Mark didn't want his refusal to loan him the money, make those times even harder. My heart swelled because Mark's is so big but I had to tell him that I really didn't want to do it. Mark assured me that his friend assured him, the money would be repaid in less than a week, to which I had to roll my eyes.
My dad has always told me that when you loan money out to someone, consider it a gift and be okay with that because you probably won't see that money again. Growing up, I saw my parents loan money out to several people and at the time, those people would cry and call my parents "angels." When they refused to repay the money however, my parents were no longer the angels who saved their asses but evil and greedy for wanting their money returned. I gave Mark various examples of what I saw my parents go through with the loaning out of money and I didn't want to have to deal with any of that.
I really do like this long-time friend of Mark's...he is a nice guy; I know that he means well but he is going through some things right now that made me question whether or not we would ever see the money again. I told Mark that if he loaned this money out we would never see it again and he needs to be okay with that. The amount of money is considerable enough where if we weren't going to get paid back, the friendship would be over. Mark kept telling me that this friend would never do that to him. And so, wanting to support Mark, I told him to go ahead and loan out the money. I, of course, had to tell Mark as he was on his way to drop the money off, "I really don't want to have to say that I told you so." He laughed and said that that wouldn't happen.
Guess what? This was our conversation from last night:
Mark:"Just say it."
Me: Playing dumb, I said, "Say what?"
Mark: "Just say I told you so."
Me: "About what?"
Mark: "About loaning the money because X's phone is disconnected and I can no longer reach him."
Although I didn't say 'I told you so,' I sure as sh!t wanted to! Apparently, Mark has been trying to get in touch with this friend since the day that the money was due to be repaid and shocker...the friend wouldn't answer Mark's calls. Now, his phone is disconnected. We are out the money and the friendship is probably lost because this kid won't be hanging out with Mark any time soon. I know it is killing Mark because we are big savers. We don't like to blow our money on useless crap. We really like to put money away and save it so I know that it is killing him to have just thrown this money away!
I appreciate that Mark is a good guy and wanted to help a buddy out but he would NEVER let me loan so much money out and he would never let me hear the end of it if I did and wasn't repaid. All I can really do is tell my dear husband that he did a good deed and good karma is coming his way.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the kid shows up with the money one day, for Mark's sake. He was just trying to be nice. In the meantime, I think a lesson was learned...do not loan out money! Not to friends and especially not to family. It rarely has a good result. At least I know that now, Mark can't complain to me about the money I will be spending on the upcoming birthday party and presents! He knows he will get the eye and he knows exactly what that eye will mean ;)
Now, I am off to dress Trent and clean the house before Mark gets home from fishing. When he does, we are off to pick up the crib and dresser and start putting together Trent's new room! I can't wait!
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