Tuesday 29 June 2010

In loving memory

Today I received some dreadful news. Chris Hatton, one of my oldest and best friends from back home in Swaziland, took his own life last night. My heart is broken in so many ways I can't count them all. On Facebook, his profile and memory-group has been flooded with heartfelt messages from literally hundreds of people. And it breaks my heart to see how someone who was loved by so many spent a life suffering so much that he could not find a reason to continue living. Someone who was so passionate and genuine, who cared for and was cared for by so incredibly many people around him. Chris, you were always a ray of sunshine in my day-to-day life in Swaziland. I will always remember sharing ear-phones as we listened to music on the bus-rides to school, writing fantastic and morbid stories to each other during class, not listening to a word the teachers said as we amused ourselves with our own random chatter, horse-rides across Hawane, afternoons in your swimming pool, evenings in the gazebo, and you harassing everyone around us with your damn Harry Potter books..! You were a joy to have around and I am truly blessed to have had the honour of having you play such a big role in my life. I never told you times enought that I loved you. Chris, my darling, I hope you've finally found some peace. And I know that, like always, you'll always be around, somewhere, smiling.

1 comment:

  1. Dear anna, I share your sadness at the loss of chris. I am his landlady here in Brighton, and would be grateful if you have his parents email so I can contact them. He seemed very happy go lucky, and was well-loved by the local children, who he always had time to play with and listen to. Several mothers have asked to be kept informed if there is a memorial, to pay respects.. they were fascinated by the way chris always had time for the kids, and could seem to engage them and make them laugh even when they were at their most annoying and difficult. They remember him as forever singing, as he walked up the road home. He was the only one of many students in the area, to link in with the locals in this a way. He was truly memorable to all, even having time for my neighbour with learning difficulties. He is remembered with affection even by chance encounters on the clubbing scene, where he was a larger than life figure, with his extreme energy and vitality! I am mystified by what happened, especially since I only spoke to him less than 24 hours before his death, when he talked animatedly of future plans. Yet it is clear he had been contemplating things for some time. He even left his washing in the machine, "tidying up" before he went. I believe there were many messages, but I do not know who they were all for, at this time, as the police took them. I need to be linked in, if you know of any group emails of contacts for him, as he has left some items with notes for people, and I do not know who anyone is, or how to contact them. I have done an internet search, but, as I do not have Facebook access and am an old dinosaur, yours is the only reference to Chris I have so far come across. I hope to hear from you.

    I love your memories of chris, it puts pieces into the jigsaw of his life from back home. I can visualise those rides from my time back in Swazi nearly 40 years ago. I hope he is back there, in the sun, in the light, under the open sky, as you say, always smiling. Will we ever know why,

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