The morning sun shines into my window.

I am awake. Thinking. Thinking of you.

Your are so wonderful.

You are like the leaves in the trees, beautiful, and bright.

But soon you leave home, drifting far away.

There is no looking back.

Oh, how I long to see spring again.

When you will be home, bright and beautiful.

For I miss you so very much, like a blue bird without a son.

All my life I have wanted the strength, the power, and the will to tell you that you and you alone are as bright as the sun.

I look up to you with envy.

Your are rainbows, the leaves, the dancing flames of fire, and the sweet soft scent of a rose.

You bring tears to my eyes and a smile to my face.

You are the one I care for, the brother I love, and the one I long to see once more grow bright and beautiful.
“The Changing Season”….by Jennifer L. Booth

            I met Brian, my brother, for the first time in the summer of 1993.  He was a 16 year old, boy then.   I am not sure how often we visited each other in Wisconsin, from that first time until the last time we saw each other in 2001, but each visit was a tremendous joy! 

             Each visit I saw Brian flourishing into a man.  Brian was kind, he was happy, he was comical, he had a satisfaction of life.  His smile was bright, his smirk was devilish, he had a sparkle in his eyes. 

            I did not experience life with Brian as many family members and friends. Sometimes circumstances just cause things to not happen.  Brian was to have many more years, so many more chances were to come.          

            I will never again have the opportunity to know Brian.  He was much too young. I miss him. 

            Brian, I will think of you often and you will bring a smile to my face.  Your brother, Tom.

I met "Kirks" for the first time on a  Saturday in the spring time approximately 3 years or so ago. He was helping to move some furniture. I knew right off the bat this guy was a cool dude. We began to hang out drinking Stella's and blasting tunes like Guns and Roses and Aerosmith.  He stayed with my girlfriend and I many nights during the summer drinking us out of house and home (LOL).  Many nights of grilling out and frozen pizzas and of course "cold Brew-ha's" and those of you who knew him, knew he wasn't too picky as long as the Brews were cold so they went down the hatch better..
Anyway, Kirks had a great sense of humor and told some very funny stories; like the time he decided to make a pizza in the middle of the night (while sleep walking) and almost burned the flipping house down.  Betty (his mom) had to take the knobs off the stove at night so the Fire Dept. wouldn't have to show up in the middle of the night.  He helped my dad with some projects including.....building a fence.  I would pull up and they would be in the garage sitting on a couple of 5 gallon buckets laughing and swapping stories.  The other day I looked out the window and saw my dad standing by the fence.  Later that day he said he was thinking about Brian and really missed him and wanted to put a memorial plaque on the fence in memory of him.  Since then, my dad's health has taken a bit of a turn.  I hope some day he can do that for Brian.
But that was the kind of guy Kirks was.  He just had that charisma about himself.  You couldn't help but like the guy.  Although he left us way too soon, I truly believe if a person is blessed to have a friend like Brian Kirkland, even if it's just one true friend in your entire life, then God has truly blessed you!  The only sadness I have in my heart is I wish I could have spent more time with him cause the dude was frickin' awesome!!
                                                -Kuk's  (Brian's nickname for me)
 

Brian and I always had a special bond with the classic movie Strange Brew. I’m pretty sure he’s the one who had me watch it for the first time…and then I was hooked. We would spend half our days at school quoting stupid parts of the movie and reenacting scenes. Our teachers probably thought we were insane. Over the years I think I’ve forgotten a lot of the quotes but the one that I remember is probably best described as our rallying cry in high school: “Take off, you hoser!”…said of course in a fake, thick Canadian accent. I probably watched that movie over 50 times during high school…and I think Brian may have seen it even more times than me. I think my mom still has the VHS version somewhere in my old room but I haven’t watched it since graduation. That movie will forever remind me of Brian and the fun times we had.