Last Saturday, I got inspired to work on a short story I wrote back in college and adapt it into a comic. It’s something I really need to do and while I have other projects I should be writing, this was something I really wanted to do. I sat down and pounded out a few pages after looking over decade old notes. Inside the folder filled with notes was a printout of a sketch of the main character drawn by my friend, Matt Jordan.

I was excited to talk to him about the piece and my ideas to pace the story out better. I hit him up on Facebook yesterday about a few things and received no response. I thought nothing of it because he is a busy guy. This morning, I found out Matt died of a heart attack. He was 31.

As soon as I found out, I took the day off from work. I was a bit of a mess. Now, I don’t want to make this about myself. I just want to put things into a little bit of context. Matt and I never grew apart the past couple of years. We just became very engrossed in our jobs, in our careers. I continued to be a working writer and he continued to be a working artist. Sadly, three of the last four times we hung out in the past year were because of a death in his family. That’s just the way adulthood is, I guess.

Regardless of all of this rambling, Jordan was a wonderful person. I know we all put people who died in a bit of a heroic light, but Jordan was easily one of the greatest people I ever met in my life. He was a creative genius and I loved his art so much that I got three separate pieces tattooed on me. He was a fantastic human being and no matter how much life shit on him, which in the past year was quite a bit, he always had a smile on his face. Sure, Jordan got angry here and there with the world, but he was still a joy to be around even at his lowest.

One of the best things about the guy is that he made everything more fun. We used to have “meetings” to plan out what comics we would work on. We’d meet up at the comic shop and head to an Irish pub for lunch. Jordan would bring his sketch books and drawing utensils. What usually happened was no where near actual work. We’d laugh, he’d draw weird characters based off my descriptions and we’d get literally nothing done. They are some of my most cherished memories in life.

Jordan was always a blast to have at parties or events. He was always open to meeting and talking to new people. Again, he always seemed like he was in a good mood. Everyone that came into contact with him loved him.

We always had weird inside jokes with a couple of his close friends, like we always talked about going into a Gamespot and asking for games that don’t exist. “Do you guys have that next gen Nancy Drew game? In this game, she has to solve a murder, but she lost her mystery notebook.” As the jokes went on, the games always got weirder. We never actually went in though.

I loved Matt Jordan and while thinking about never being able to grab lunch again or sit in his car chatting is truly saddening, I’m glad to have the memories I have of him and our time together. He was well loved and had lots of people who cared about him. He was a positively wonderful person.

That’s all. I don’t know exactly what else to say because my mind is clouded with grief and thoughts of “I should have…” In all honesty, I feel like we were both there for each other when it counted and we both made each other happy and that’s all that matters. All I have are good memories and I encourage others who knew and love him to focus on the good.

Bye