Missing a good friend

A good friend of mine passed away from cancer last week.

It may seem strange to call someone I never met in person a good friend, but John Mammoser was one of the first people I connected with on Facebook way, way back when. This was an era when I sought out the people who were recording the silly songs I listened to on “The Dr. Demento Show” to see if they were on this newfangled social media platform that might replace MySpace and chatrooms. And maybe they’d want to be my friend.

John’s songs were indeed silly, he was indeed on Facebook, and we hit it off nearly instantaneously. Originally from the Buffalo area and having moved to Los Angeles, John and I bonded over our shared love of humor, silly music, common decency, entertainment of all varieties, and football (we both hoped for a BIlls/Packers Super Bowl one day where we could chide one another during the game). And though he never considered himself an author, John even wrote a book that I secretly wished he’d have asked me to edit before self-publishing. However, How to NOT Stay Single Forever is a hoot and is all John ̶ witty, insightful, self-deprecating, and entertaining.

My wife and I even went a bit out of our way to eat lunch at a bar his family owned south of Buffalo on our way to a wedding a few summers back, a visit John was thrilled we made (best wings anywhere, he said. Not far from the truth, I say).

It became obvious that John was one of the funniest, kindest human beings around. Over the years, it became one of my goals to meet John in person, go on a hike with him, and have dinner with him and others in L.A. who had become mutual friends. I have a high school friend in that area, and two of my daughters recently moved to southern California, so I figured the time would soon come when we would visit. Then, I could meet the tall, blonde man who somewhat resembled Kato Kaelin … finally.

However, it was not to be. The cancer so many of us thought John was in the process of beating ended up being too much to overcome. His loss from my Facebook feed, and knowing I’ll never meet him in person, has left a bigger hole in my heart than I had anticipated.

Maybe I’ll root for the Bills the rest of the year … as long as they don’t play the Packers in the Super Bowl.