To Live And Breathe In The Spirit of Love
For the past three days I have been at the Laura Branigan Spirit Of Love Gathering that was held in Long Island, NY. Friday was a year to the day that Laura died in her sleep from a brain aneurysm. She left behind not only friends and family but also a wide network of loyal fans who loved her dearly and whose lives she touched on countless levels.
It's hard to sum up everything I feel after coming back from this weekend. It was a very small gathering, about 25 people attended, and while not extravagant it was very intimate. I cannot fully describe the beauty and power of witnessing total strangers opening up to one another, laughing, crying, embracing, sharing some of their deepest pains as well as some of their greatest joys with each other. Laura brought us all together through her passion and music. Even in death she continues to inspire and bring people together. Her legacy will never die so long as there are those who keep that bright flame burning.
The Spirit Of Love Gathering was about more than just remembering her artistry and life. It was about coming together as a community, and celebrating the life and love of a woman who has been best described as an angel on Earth. Laura always called her fans her "other half," and that's what it felt like being there with everyone. Her depthless love and compassion transformed us as listeners from a community of fans to a family. A family many of us had never realized we had.
Every attendee of SOL had a story of how Laura touched their lives. Some chose to share theirs and others did not. For myself I am still so overwhelmed. Laura touched my life in a variety of ways but unlike many I can't recall a specific event and situation in which she changed my life. There was so much Laura gave me through her music. There were times and places when a song she had sung helped me get through an otherwise painful situation.
I have to admit that for a long time I have felt very guilty. In the last year or so of her career I grew more distant as a listener. When I first discovered her music I played her songs all the time, again and again. As time wore on and other things, like my years-long depression, crowded into my life my connection to her grew fainter. I was starting to get back into listening to her music again when the news broke of her death.. I was heartbroken I had missed my chance to see her in concert in Baltimore in April of 2004. I had hoped that there would be another chance, but there was not. Sadly enough she died that August and I was forever robbed of the opportunity to see her perform live and meet her.
Those feelings of loss do not weigh as heavily on my heart anymore after spending the weekend with Laura's management and other fans. I feel as if I have met Laura in the best possible way, through the people that meant the most to her. The people who she kept singing for. People like myself. And even more so, I connected with a family that I never knew I had. I feel blessed, not grieved.
It doesn't matter that my devotion had temporarily wandered the important thing is that I never lost my connection to Laura completely, she was always there even if I wasn't. The happy times I knew listening to her music, and still have, live on eternally. Time cannot erase that.
It saddens me to think that it took losing her to make me remember that special feeling I lost contact with so long ago. But I know that Laura wouldn't want me to grieve what transpired in the past, she would want me to keep looking towards the future. I never stopped loving her and even though she is gone she will continue to inspire me throughout the rest of my life. That is a gift I hold more sacred than most things.
With that said I want to thank everyone who made the Spirit Of Love Gathering possible. Everyone who attended and helped me to find Laura Branigan all over again. Words cannot express the depth of gratitude and love I feel in my heart. I can truly say with all honesty that this is an important and defining moment in my life, and one I will look back upon and cherish for the rest of my life.
