30 Times A Simple "You Up?" Text Escalated Beyond Anyone's Expectations

It was a buddy of mine at about 1am hitting me up about his neighbors dog. He had seen the dude beating on the dog previously but this particular night he had left him outside in about 10 degree weather without any shelter. I packed my s**t up, bolt cutter and a mask and we went and liberated that dog. He was possibly the greatest dog I’ve ever had the experience of living with, I miss that dude everyday. Dogs like him show appreciation and love like no other. The TLDR I stole a dog and he became my new best friend.

Got the text from a buddy that he needed help at his house and it was urgent. Thought maybe they had a flood from a burst pipe or something like that. Nope.

Turns out his wife fell off the sobriety wagon hard. They had a huge fight. Cops and EMS was called. She was transported to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. House is a wreck. Not like from the argument but you can tell it has been falling apart for weeks. Helped wake their two kids to get them ready to go stay at a family member’s house several hours away. All while I’m making sure he’s not about to have an emotional breakdown as well.

Another friend came over to watch the kids until the family got there. During this time the hospital deemed the wife very unstable but they didn’t have the proper unit for her so she got transported to a facility, heavily sedated due to her being hostile and having suicidal ideation, a couple hours away. Drove my buddy there so he could take her personal items. We thought we would be there awhile but basically the facility said there was nothing we could do there and it would be best if he went home.

Drove back to his house. I figured it wasn’t a good idea to leave him alone in that state. He finally broke down. Told me everything that had been happening the past couple months. We started to clean up the house then passed out after the long night. I ended up taking the rest of the week off to help him out and make sure he was good mentally.

They’re long divorced now, he along with the kids are in a good place. Her not so much but it is what it is there. Check on your friends often.

Edit: Thanks for the love everyone. It’s heartbreaking seeing people say they don’t have a support system though. Best we can do is be that someone for anyone if needed.

Not a text, but a phone call.

About 10 years ago, maybe more I was sleeping and around 2am I got a phone call from "AHS - ACH" which is "Alberta Health Services, Alberta Children's Hospital". My wife is a nurse and she works at the ACH so I groggily answered. On the other end was an upset sounding woman and she just said "can you come get me, my phone and car are dead in the parking lot". Sure babe, no problem.

I get in my truck and make my way over to the hospital booster cables and charging cord in hand. I'm gonna be a goddamn hero, I might even get a little special something something out of this I'm thinking to myself. I realize on the way that I forgot MY phone at home. But also, didn't really care because the only person that would ever call me at 2am is waiting for me to save her in the parking lot of doom.

I pull in to the parking lot and look around. I don't see my wife's car so I try the parkade. Nope. The other lot? Nope. So I park in the emergency lot and am about to go in to see if I can track her down through the hospital admin when I see a girl standing beside a car with the hood up. I ask her if she needs help and she says "no, my phone is dead but my boyfriend is on the way to get me". Cool beans. I go inside and go up to my wife's unit and ask if she's there. The unit clerk looks at me like I'm a complete nutjob and says "uh, she is an educator now, she only works days". Right, yes. I do remember that. So I ask to use their phone and I call my wife. She picks up the phone STEAMING mad at me wondering why the f**k I left in the middle of the night, didn't take my phone and didn't tell her where I was going. I'm like "um, someone from the children's hospital called me and said they needed a boost" at this moment I'm very confused. I tell her I'll be back shortly and we can talk it over.

I go back out to my truck and see that same girl standing there. I get a strange feeling so I ask her if she happened to call from the hospital at around 2am. She says yes and starts looking at me funny. I ask her what number she called and she says a number that is almost EXACTLY the same as my number. My number starts with xyx... and the number she says she called was yxy....

It dawns on me. She transposed the numbers and accidentally called me. I laugh, give her a boost and we part ways. I get home explain what happened to my wife who is VERY suspicious about the whole thing - understandably.

I had happened to get the call when she had been in the washroom feeling a tad sick.

Anyway, a few weeks later one of the other nurses was telling my wife a funny story about how one of her friends accidentally called someone else's husband to boost her car one night and that idiot actually showed up.

I was that idiot. My wife felt so bad for being suspicious of me that I did - in fact - get a little special something-something.

I was in Chicago at a conference. Got a text from a friend that said "come by ____ bar." I get there, it's a pit...which is my kinda place. There's some ancient dude playing the blues in the corner. Totally in my element.

An hour later B.B. King came out and did an impromptu set. No one had any idea, he happened to be in town and wanted to play some tunes. If that wasn't crazy enough 20 minutes into his set Eric F*****g Clapton sat down next to Lucille and B.B. They played obscure blues tunes for another 40 minutes.

Going to an all-night supermarket in order to purchase cake mix, icing, sprinkles, and the fixings for some full fat, very unhealthy hot chocolate because one of our mutual friends got dumped.

If I didn't answer their text. They wouldn't be here.

Friend of mine new I had not gotten out of bed in days. Sent me the text "you up? I'll be there in 20 minutes to pick you up"

Got in her car and we took a 6 hour drive to hang out at an event 3 states over.

It helped a lot to get me out of that funk.

Meeting my wife. I had fallen asleep and got a text from a girl that I had been casually seeing. She and some friends were drunk at a party and needed a ride. I reluctantly got up out of bed, got dressed and went to pick them up. When they piled into the backseat, I looked back to see who had gotten in the car and my future wife and I locked eyes. That was 14 years ago.

I was staying away from family and friends in a different city and was relatively new to the city. A day before my 26th Birthday, I told my friends to not call me at midnight as I wouldn’t be able to answer and I wanted to sleep because I had a long week at work. Secretly I was also missing all my people and hoping they don’t listen to my advice. My friends decided to WhatsApp me 5 minutes before midnight “Are you up?” and I said yes but also told them that I’ll be going to sleep soon. I suddenly hear my doorbell ring at that time and 2 of my closest buds were there at my doorstep, they had flown from a different city to wish me.

For the first time in 15 years of knowing them, I broke down and hugged them.

We went to a neighborhood bar and what a wild night it was with one of the tables where a group of ladies were celebrating their friends Bachelorette.

Nothing tops that experience. Beautiful Core Memory.

When I was 14, I was about to fall asleep and a classmate I was acquaintances with texted me and asked if I was awake. I told him I was and asked what was up. He proceeded to invite me to come to his house and play board games with him and his parents. From that night on, he became my best friend and about a decade later we are still best friends. I moved abroad after we graduated high school but I still visit him whenever I visit our hometown and he also came to visit me in my new country of residence. We even both met our current partners through each other. I can't begin to imagine how differently my life would have played out if I never responded to his text that night.

Received a text from a buddy who said he needed help because his ex was going crazy, so I ran over. Turns out it was his ex who took his phone and ran and hid. Ended up knocking my buddy out and ran her and her two kids to the car for safety since he was being physical. He ran out and tried grabbing one of the kids, so I took him by his shirt and punched him square in the face, knocking him out again. Told her if she needed someone to talk to, just to message me. She's been my wife for two years now and I no longer talk to that buddy.

A drunken "free the llama" rescue mission on Nantucket. We were so drunk we never found the llama.

This was back in high school. Friend of mine came from a pretty broken home. Both parents had remarried. He called me one night absolutely hysterical. I couldn’t figure out what was going on but knew he needed someone he trusted to come be with him. Turns out he got super drunk and had put his dad’s gun in his mouth and was ready to pull the trigger right before calling me. It was all over a messy situation where he had fallen in love with his step sister but knew he couldn’t be with her. He had never told anyone before this night. He didn’t want me to call anyone else for help so I sat up with him all night while he cried and poured his heart out. I distinctly remember being so tired but forcing myself to keep my eyes open because I felt like if I fell asleep he would go through with k*lling himself. Luckily the situation never got that far again. He eventually got the help he needed and even though he went through some really rough stretches with d***s and alcohol, he’s still alive today. We haven’t spoken in years just due to growing up and drifting apart but I know he’s now married with kids and seems to be living a stable life.

A friend called in the middle of the night. Her mother was rushed to the hospital and in very bad condition. Doctors had told her to come asap to say goodbye. Could I drive her. I broke several speed limits, but being it on a Sunday there was not much police in the street. We made it in time and she could spend the last 30 minutes with her mother.

"I feel like I'm going to (unalive myself) can you stop me?" He was going to down a whole bottle of tylenol with loads of alcohol. He was about 60min away. 3am. Home alone. Luckily I'm a night owl due to my night shifts. He's in a good place now in his life.

Got a call from a friend asking if I wanted to hang out with him and a mutual friend. We went to a jazz bar in Downtown Houston. While we were there, mutual friend got a call from a girl who was tending bar at another place and said it was slow and we should come hang out.

We ended up going to the barrio to a little shack that when the side opened like a garage door it became a Tejano bar. When we walked in I could hear someone say "what are these white boys doing here?"

We walked up to the bar to meet mutual friend's friend and she took him out on to the dance floor. Her mom was there hanging out and took my other friend out on to the dance floor leaving me alone at the bar. While I was standing there a guy who looked like he could be cast as "Mexican gangster" in a movie walkes up and stood inches from me and looked me up and down like he wanted to start something. Thinking quickly I stuck out my hand and said "what's up buddy?" Dude shook my hand, gave me a hug and was my best friend for the rest of the night.

3 am. Northern California. Got a call that there was a fast moving wildfire by our friends ranch and could they use our trailer to evacuate their horses, so, drove out to where we keep it, went and loaded up horses and moved them. Friends stayed at our place for a week, their house survived, their moms place up the road burned down. This was also at the beginning of Covid lockdown and our kitchen was gutted for a remodel, cooking out in the garage, etc.

Got the text at 2am, drove over to help safely capture and relocate a massive wolf spider, got cuddles.

Smuggling close to a metric ton of biscuits across the border of a neighboring country at 2AM.

My buddy called me at 3 am if I was awake.
I asked why. The answer:

Ngl I'm drunk, but I kinda wanna play War Thunder rn (military shooter, we play aviation. The important thing is that you need good aim).

I thought about it for like five minutes and said f**k it, why not. I wanted to see how he plays when drunk because he plays not so great when sober.

He had impeccable aim and lead. Somehow he even managed to learn how to dogfight in a plane and then forget it the next day.

It was funny.