Ah Simon, where are ye now?

He was my friend. He is my friend.

This is not the post that I thought would start the New Year, but this is the post. This is not the way Simon’s life on Planet Earth was supposed to end, but this is the way it ended.

The unexpected passing of a friend … and how to cope.

I never shook hands with Simon, never sat in the same room with him and shared thoughts face to face, never had the chance to throw my arm around him and hug him like a buddy.

For that matter I never stood in the same continent with him.

He was Simon from Down Under … Australia. We met through church and music. We would have long talks about those subjects and also the world often on SKYPE – he, late at night before going to bed, and me, at the crack of dawn. We never got to know each other on the same day.

But we got to know each other – time and distance be damned. They were irrelevant.

The last time we spoke was through an email he wrote. He had some questions about music publishing in the U.S. As usual his questions were intense and deeply curious. We could never just “chat”. It was always a tangle of ideas to be sorted through and organized and then put into action. He was always full of ideas, new designs, new ways, new questions, new life.

On this particular occasion I was headed into my busy season and swamped. I wrote him back that I just didn’t have time at the time. My excuse was a lack of “time” when time was never a part of our relationship. Time be damned.

Next thing I knew, he was gone. I blew it.

Perhaps I could have helped him, perhaps I could have saved him. Perhaps I could have walked with him through it, been there for him, said “goodbye” at the portal.

Life is fragile sometimes. Let’s not forget that. Let’s make the most of every moment. My New Year’s resolution.

Not the resolution I expected, but the resolution I’ve made.

Simon Deppeler rest in peace. I love ya’, buddy.