Matthew Bradley knew there was a reason he discovered his long-lost cousin a few years ago.

Surfing the Internet in his Brantford home, Bradley discovered a MySpace friend invitation from Breanne Lawrenson, a now 23-year-old musician living in the Carlton Place area of Ottawa.

Recognizing the familiar name, Bradley didn’t hesitate to respond to the request with a message.

“I sent her a message saying that I thought we were cousins,” Bradley said. “A couple of weeks later, she replied and we realized that we in fact were. We hadn’t seen each other in about 12 to 15 years.”

Shortly after the cousins reconnected, Lawrenson was offered the opportunity to film a music video for her song If I’m Not Here Tomorrow.

Knowing the lyrics were fitting to a situation where someone leaves loved ones behind, she outlined a theme for the video based on Bradley, who was preparing to leave for Afghanistan with the Canadian Armed Forces.

In the military for 12 years as a part-time reservist, Bradley had been waiting for his opportunity to go overseas. He served in Afghanistan from September 2008 to May 2009.

After seeing Bradley off from Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Lawrenson used the emotional goodbye as inspiration to tell a story familiar to military families across the country. Filmed in Kingston, the video includes scenes of army equipment and troops training for combat.

“It was a big experience to see Matt off and it was really emotional,” Lawrenson said. “I thought it was a good idea to tell that story because it was life altering for me and made the war a lot more personal.”

Since she finished the music video, some army officials in Petawawa have been showing it during public speaking engagements. Bradley hopes the video will bring good things to Lawrenson.

“I hope something good comes out of it for her,” Bradley said. “She’s a great musician and a great person. I think I did something good by going overseas and giving back to Canada. I’m sure Breanne wanted to give back as well in her own way.”

Lawrenson said she hopes the video helps open up an opportunity to someday perform overseas. She is currently employed by the Musician’s Association of Ottawa, where she is pursuing a career in music.

“It would be scary to perform in Afghanistan, but I want to do more for the military,” Lawrenson said. “They’ve given me a lot of support. It would be a good experience.”