For me this is probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to write. Yes, we go through life and experience all the ups and downs, and of course all those things that go sideways, but we rarely have enough time to reflect upon what it all means. And yes, I am going to wax philosophical for a bit, because I feel like it and I think I am entitled to it at this point.

A month ago, I lost someone in my life who meant a lot to me, in four different ways; he was my youngest brother, he was my best friend, he was my business partner, and he was a kindred spirit. And he had many family members, good friends, and relationships that seemed to span way beyond the 52 years he spent on this planet.

I remember pretty clearly when he was born, as it was the summer before I was getting ready to enter high school. And I was a little nervous entering a brand new school, since we had just moved. Jay came as the last of seven in our family, as I was the first. We were the bookends of the Deal crew. And yes, being the oldest it was almost a cliché that I wound up babysitting him at times.

Jay was still pretty small when I went off to college and then made a life for myself over the years. So I never really saw him grow up and was around less than my other siblings. Over the years we each went our own ways and I never saw him that much.

Until one day in late 2009, I realized I needed someone with his expertise to work with me in a film company I had formed. By spring 2010 he was working fulltime for us, and making his mark with the company and our projects. He was in charge of all our online and social media activities, and eventually all our marketing, and beyond that became a producer on our last film project.

Over those nine years of working together we got to know each other pretty well, and learned to work together in amazing harmony. Oftentimes I would start a sentence and he would finish it, and vice versa. It almost seemed like we could read each other’s minds. It sure made our work more efficient. His creative spirit and technological wizardry will be sorely missed.

So how can you wrap up a person’s life with a few paragraphs? Of course, you never ever really can. The effect of their lives can be felt by the influences that person had on them. And Jay, with his upbeat, humorous, obliging, and outgoing personality, had quite the influence, felt by many more people than I or anyone ever knew about. So yes, fly Jay-bird fly, fly high … onward and upward to your next life and your next adventure!

JAD