Hello Everyone,
I am David Hammerman, or as Diane may have introduced me a time or a thousand, Mallory’s future husband. A few years ago, Jesse called me to say he had an incredible girl for me and she would change my life. He went on to describe how smart, beautiful and amazing she was. Needless to say, that woman was Mallory.
A few days later, I was meeting this strikingly beautiful woman at Superba and over a two and a half hour dinner, I was blown away by her charm, ability to listen and most of all, her smile. I’ll let you all in on a little secret – considering I am here today with my loving boyfriend Kyle, the reason we did not work out was 100% me and definitely not her. While I may not have met the love of my life that night, I met someone I will love the rest of my life.
Considering I met Mallory on somewhat false pretenses, I thought the only appropriate story to tell today was how I came out to her.
It was February of 2016 and Mallory was at UCLA in Santa Monica. I went over to the hospital a sweaty mess, which only compounded when Diane refused to leave us alone for more than approximately 20 seconds. After Mallory, somewhat forcefully, made Diane take a lunch break, I gave Mallory the details of the previous few months of my life, which involved lots of sex, drugs and rock and roll (or EDM music to be factual), an ill-fated trip to Mexico and ultimately, coming to terms with my sexuality.
Mallory looked at me with her mouth agape and then burst out laughing. When she stopped, she looked at me (pardon the French here but Mallory’s words, not mine) and said “you’ve got to be shitting me, you made that all up.” I believe I told her “no, I’m not that creative but maybe we should turn it into a movie.” My joke wasn’t that funny but she went into a fit of laughter so hard that the monitors went off and a nurse came in to check on her – a fact we kept as secret from Diane, so I didn’t get banned from the hospital. When she settled down, she had me come over and gave me a big air hug. That moment right there was when I knew I had a special friend. She had every right to have felt jilted, that I lied to her and be angry with me and instead she showered me in love, acceptance and laughter. Mallory was such a unique soul. She saw the world for all its absurdity and chose to fight through and live as long and as fully as she could.
I’ll end with a few lines from the note that I wrote to Mallory last Sunday. Mallory, I love you and am grateful for the the effect you had on me. I consider myself to be a lucky man to have gotten the chance to be a part of your life.