Brian Francis Birmingham, 12-26-1962 to 5-10-2013

My Semi Colon Story

Today we buried my cousin, in a joint Christian-Judaic ceremony of life and love. Over the course of three hours, people spoke of their love and friendship with him. Someone quoted Bruce Springsteen (being a fellow graduate of Freehold High School), and I remembered listening to the Bruce on my drive up to the ceremonies.

I had started with the Bruce, and let my iPod randomly shuffle through music. It picked some bagpipes (the real stuff as well as the Red Hot Chili Pipers), some classical, one of my son's screamo songs, and then Enya cued up with "Long Long Journey", which seemed entirely appropriate and reminded me of another song.

Years ago, I'd listened to the Flirtations -- a gay acapella group that had started in the late 70s, was ravaged by AIDS, and ended with the last two men adding a jazz singer/trumpeter for the final tour and album. That was called "Three", and it included the song "Everything Is Possible", which contains the refrain that I thought fit Brian's life.

"The only measure of your words and your deeds will be the love you leave behind when you're gone"*

It was clear to all of us just how many people loved Brian, and why. We should all be so lucky in our lives to have that much left behind -- and not just lucky, but determined to leave behind that kind of memory and love. Brian lived life to the fullest, even when fighting cancer; we should try to do the same in his honor.

So, to Brian's memory: let us promise to share good times with family and friends, to make more friends wherever possible, and leave this world a better place.

*(My ex liked this song so much that she made me promise to play it at her funeral, and so I shall.)