Some things just are in life, and no explanation is needed. That's true of why I'm a Streisand fan. I remember watching A "Happening in Central Park" when I was in the 2nd grade and being mesmerized. So factor in my mother was a fan and I'm gay, and I suppose it was just meant to be. And it wasn't always easy to be a fan, as it is now. Growing up in the south when your brother hears you singing along to Barbra "My Man" and he punches you in the stomach till you can't breath calling you a queer, because he like so many others are so narrow minded and don't just let people be who they are. I don't claim to know much in life but I do know that some things are from God, that's what Ms. Streisand is for me, and people the world over, a gift from God. Whether it be as a teen when I didn't want to live because I was gay and didn't fit in, and coming to terms with the violence in my family, or when at my mother's funeral and I played Mom's favorite song I Believe/You'll Never Walk Alone Barbra's voice has been there to sooth our sometimes fragile souls. If that's not the greatest gift God bestowe's on one person as he has on Barbra Streisand, then I don't know what is. Then five weeks later when I lost my step dad (a man who restored my faith in men) she was there again to help me mourn his loss too. And she reminded me through song that all you ever really leave to your child when your dead, is only what ever you've put in its head. It still reminds me of all the good things that were put into my head.

So thank you for always being there Ms. Streisand, helping my mother battle cancer, a troubled teen struggling to be gay, a family mourning their loss and bringing joy to the world through your most magnificent voice, I only hope that you have the same in your life too. Douglas