Jahrzeit...

One year ago yesterday, my younger brother David Brian Waldon was found dead in his Hollywood apartment. He had died suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, from a ruptured aortic aneurysm on Groundhog Day. He was 39 years-old and a 19 year liver transplant survivor. David was an journalist, entertainment critic and an internationally published author. He was an amazingly intelligent and talented individual, a real modern day Renaissance Man.

David was a kind and giving person, generous beyond measure, both materially and spiritually. He went out of his way to help his fellow journalists, especially those who were just starting their careers.
David was well-known for his optimism as epitomized by his motto “Half-Full!” --as in the glass is always half-full.

If the quality of a person's friends is the truest measure of their character, then David was a real Mensch.

His many friends are among the most caring, devoted and giving people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. When my mother, my wife and I had to make the long painful journey to Los Angeles last February to arrange David's affairs, we were met at LAX by a brigade of his friends. They provided us with food, transportation, moral support and more. They opened their homes and their Hearts to us. My mother and I had often worried about the possibility that David was socially isolated in California, because he had no family nearby. We couldn't have been further from the truth. David had an extended “family” in Los Angeles, Altadena and Santa Monica. Without these wonderful people, I can't imagine trying to get through the situation we were facing as well as we did. I am forever thankful for their help and love.

David's passing has left a huge void in the lives of our parents, his many friends and myself. My mother and I have both, at various times, fought depression and despair. I have dealt with feelings of guilt and suicidal ideation. I can still remember the dread-shock of the moment when I received that fateful phone call from my mother. It's been a long, hard journey.

Despite the pain of the loss, we are all better people for having known L.A. Dave.

I've away from my blog for too long now, David would surely give me hell for slacking-off. If he were here, he would tell me to "move along, nothing to see here!" Life is fleeting and I must heed the words of the poem:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Godspeed Little Brother, I'll see you on the Other Side...

--ryan