See Ya Later, Buddy

My friend Matt is leaving California for good this weekend.  I only met him about a year and a half ago when he came to work at Creators Syndicate.  His college buddy (who hired me) urged him to come out and join the company.  Matt drove cross-country in his little red Jeep Liberty all by himself.  He was going to make a new life for himself in the sunny state.

Matt is one of those people who is really, really easy to get along with.  He literally doesn't have a dramatic bone in his body and probably wouldn't hurt a fly.  It is with these amazing qualities that we became friends over invoice lunches and staff meetings, and even more so, over dinners and drinks.  His super-sharp wit and dorky sense of humor would make everyone at the table chuckle...it was hard not to.

Sadly, Matt's family experienced a huge, unexpected loss in the last two months.  Although he didn't talk about it much when he got back, I could tell that it forever changed him and affected him each day.  With family ties weighing on his mind, Matt decided he needed to move back to New Hampshire.  I understand it is something he feels he needs to do, but it is always hard to say goodbye to a good friend.

We're throwing Matt a going-away party this weekend and it will for sure be filled with lots of laughs.  Because, how else can we send someone all the way across the country? It's the least we can do.