If you make a willy extravagant gesture and you don’t immediately share the results on social media, did you even really do it in the first place? US writer Candice Benbow wasn’t taking any chances with that one when she took to Twitter to share a copy of a note that she left for her noisy neighbour, setting in motion a series of truly wild events.
It all kicked off when Benbow’s neighbour began throwing a series of increasingly loud parties, with noise blasting into the early hours of the morning. While she was annoyed at the lack of sleep, she decided to play nice, leaving the unknown individual a fairly whimsical note along with a cake that she had baked as a peace offering.
“When you come home every evening and blast music, I’ve come to expect it,” she wrote. “Sometimes, it’s a song I hadn’t heard in a while and I appreciate the throwback. Other times, it’s something I’ve never heard before and I’ve been able to Google a few lyrics and add it to my weekly playlists to be fair, you’ve helped me catch a vibe.”
“But last night …” she continued. “Fam, you tried it. You really, really did.”
I wanted the best way to tell my neighbor that he tried it with his late night party. So I wrote him a letter and baked him a cake. pic.twitter.com/SxPKAzOHp0
— Candice Marie Benbow (@CandiceBenbow) December 15, 2018
She explained that his music had kept her up until 4am, when she ought to have been asleep and dreaming about Michael B Jordan, so she decided to put her energy into something positive and bake him a pound cake, in hopes that he might reciprocate the friendly gesture and keep it the hell down.
Candice Benbow went viral for the initial Tweet, and defended her decision to leave a note rather than confront him in person, saying that she did in fact knock on his door, but irrespective of that, as a single woman, she did not want to venture out alone at 3am, and furthermore, she did not want to call the police because of the very high likelihood the situation would escalate to violence.
Folks are calling what I did extra. It was extra AF. Throwing a house party at 3am is extra AF, too.
— Candice Marie Benbow (@CandiceBenbow) December 16, 2018
She later took to Twitter again to say that the music volume had lowered, and in a further twist, she revealed that she later met her neighbour, a music video producer named Tommy, who apologised for the noise, invited her to his next party, and complimented her on her pound cake.
UPDATE: I JUST MET MY NEIGHBOR TOMMY!!!! He’s so freaking cool! He apologized for the noise, promised to invite me to the next party and most importantly…HE SAID MY POUND CAKE WAS AMAZING!!!! pic.twitter.com/NcU8t0ZfqT
— Candice Marie Benbow (@CandiceBenbow) December 18, 2018
She went on to say that her “cute” new neighbour was also new to the area, and that this was his first Christmas without his daughter, who he lost in a car accident.
“Y’all know how rough grieving was for me in the months following Mama’s death,” she continued. “I can only imagine what it would have felt like for someone to confront me with anger when I’m trying my best to get through my first holiday season.”
“It was a sweet and gentle reminder that we never know what folks are going through and it is always best to lead with kindness. When we can extend grace, we really should.”
If that sounds like an ideal setup for some kind of romantic comedy, well, Candice Benbow has already thought of that, and in a later Tweet, she asked Ava Duvernay, Lena Waite, Oprah, the Hallmark Channel, Netflix and others to pitch the idea to them.
Is all this too good to be true? POTENTIALLY, but whatever, we’ll still take this adorable story, and will look forward to the inevitable Christmas-themed TV movie in 2019.
