At 4pm this afternoon, we will be burying Alec.

I would ask for one thing from those of you who can’t attend the service but who knew Alec, myself, his mother, his brother, his girlfriend, or any of the rest of our family: please take a moment of silence at that time to remember him.

An aunt of Alec’s was kind enough to set up a page on Facebook for friends and family to share stories, photos, videos, and to send their love. The page is aptly named “In loving memory of Alec Branch” and can be found here.

At the visitation on Saturday night, there were over 400 people that came through the line. I wanted to mention to those that came to pay their respects then: the songs that were playing in the reception area were all favorites of Alec’s. We picked out his music ahead of time and compiled some CDS to loop. (There was a lot of music that didn’t make the cut either because we didn’t have it or felt it MIGHT not be appropriate music to be playing in the background. That being said, “Get on Up” by James Brown somehow slipped past me. I know it startled some of the older generation to hear the godfather of soul belting out the words “Sex Machine” in the funeral home. I can only picture Alec just laughing and laughing and laughing over that, though. So it’s all good. )

In any event, I want to express my gratitude to friends and family once more for all of your love, your kindess, and your support during this time.

Alec was an amazing person. I hope that today (and every day) is more a remembrance of his life than of his death.