Posted on September 15, 2007 - by Justin Hartman

September 15 remains a sad day for me

I’ve been debating whether or not to blog about this issue as it’s a very sensitive topic for me yet despite my reluctance I’ve decided it’s important to write about this day and remember.

Four years today, almost to the hour, my best friend passed away. It is a moment in my life that I can honestly never forget and I have no doubt it will haunt me till the day I die. The difference today is that instead of raw emotion, that has normally been present in reliving this day, I find myself remembering him for what he was and what we had. I still feel saddened by his untimely death but today I thank God for the experiences we shared together.

Together we owned a business, we moved out of home, we became DJ’s and we went through some rough emotional times. My friendship with him was one that I will most likely never experience again and in the four years since his death I still don’t have a relationship that can come close to comparing.

The difficulty in all of this for me is the loneliness. I have a wonderful family, caring friends and a support structure that I care deeply about but ultimately I still feel very lost without him. I suppose that time will heal this.

A few days before his death we found ourselves driving around through the Johannesburg CBD doing a delivery for a client and he played me the song Don’t Give Up by Peter Gabriel. We had often listened to music together as we had very similar interests but this was one of those moments that I knew I’d remember for a long time.

Without realising it this one would be our last moment together and I’d like to share it with you.

[audio:dont_give_up.mp3]