My eulogy for Chris, my friend
Special people leave a void for the people who remain behind.
Chris is that kind of person to me, he occupied a place in my heart and in my life that was uniquely his. I met Chris on the IMDb Brokeback Mountain board in September of 2006 and we clicked almost immediately. I guess the old adage like speaks to like is true. We were forever getting yelled at by the others on the board for hi-jacking threads and just chatting for hours about anything and everything. Since we found e-mail too slow and IMDB PM's awkward eventually we, with a few other friends hi-jacked an unused board for our nightly chats.
Over the course of that year, through many conversations, some deep , some frivolous, some intensely personal others very superficial…I came to know Christopher Benjamin Alyn the man. He was a remarkably good man, with a few misspent teenage years that only added to his charm and his bad boy cache. He was a person of integrity, incredibly self effacing, generous to a fault, intensely loyal to his friends and he loved his family fiercely and was devoted to them, a man who understood a hard day's work and did what needed to be done so that those he loved never wanted for anything.
The loss of my friend is extremely painful, my pain is very strong, debilitating even and yet also strangely reaffirming because it has made me ever more aware of the rewards of our wonderful friendship. I long to replace pain with hope and peace in the knowledge that my friend is in a better place. I know that is what he would want. We all know how much he hated sentimentality, all these tears would make him cringe. The memories I have are what keeps things in perspective and I thank God for that. So Godspeed my friend and rest well you’ve earned it. I love you, I'll never forget you.
