App creator pays off parents' mortgage for Christmas (Try not to cry)
Joe Riquelme, creator of Videoshop, decides there's only one way to repay his parents. The YouTube video of the gift-giving has already enjoyed more than 7 million views.
The echoes of Christmas are already distant.
The memories might be few and those that exist are likely indistinct.
I have a feeling, though, that Joe Riquelme's parents will remember this Christmas like no other. Riquelme is the creator of the Videoshop app, which allows you to share good-quality video with friends and family.
His immediate family, however, think of him as the son who gave them a white envelope for Christmas. Was that all he could think of? It seems so. But in this white envelope was a simple note: "Your house is paid off. Merry Xmas. Joe."
Riquelme seems like a man of few words. In posting the video of his envelope giving to YouTube, he simply added the description: "For my parents."
On his Facebook page, he tried a little harder to find a few more syllables: "Sometimes the best gifts come in the lamest packages. Merry Christmas everyone! -- feeling happy."
If you look at the video -- more than 7 million people already have -- see what it makes you feel. The reaction of both his parents has a few words to it, but the overwhelming nature of the gesture moves them to something far more elemental.
One Facebook commenter summed up the magnitude of the gift very well: "Way to make everyone else's 6-pack of Costco brand socks for dad look even worse."
So you see kids, you can develop apps and still be a decent human being. Not everyone can do it. But perhaps it's worth trying all the same.