Saying Goodbye to A Legend....

I have been thinking about doing a post on Michael Jackson ever since he passed away ( on my birthday )... I never waited in line for hours... I never saw him "live"... I never wanted to Be him or much like him for that matter... I never downloaded a song of his from Itunes... BUT.. he has been around for as long as I really can remember...I remember Thriller...when it came out ( that was the only album I had of his - and it was a cassette tape...hehe )... I remember everyone trying to Moon walk...sequined gloves...black penny loafers... I remember the Grammy's when he couldn't even carry all of his awards and that's all anyone was talking about at school.. I remember watching so many of my friends try to dance just like him.. I went on...grew up and I didn't listen to him much...but he was always around. I would hear him or about him.. my heart broke when I heard he died.. I was driving and I was so stunned I almost brought the car to a complete halt.. earlier that day I had been saddened to hear that Farrah Fawcett had lost her brave and long battle with cancer....but his death.. it came out of nowhere...All the sudden, I just recalled Thriller .... those amazing dance steps..

Over the past two weeks we have been overwhelmed with Michael Jackson... all the news and gossip.... My husband and I sat here one night saying " Do you remember this?" - for a long time and it occurs to me that we sounded like our parents telling us how they remembered where they were when they heard that Elvis had died.. My teenage son was interested... mainly because Michael had remained so prominent in music...I haven't heard so much Michael Jackson in years....Billy Jean, Man in the Mirror, Beat It... they have taken me back...back to another day in my life.... a trip down my own memory lane...

Michael... transcended color,race,religion... he transcended all those normal trappings of our world... he was global.. huge and timeless.. he had generations of fans..

I think it's a tragic, sad and lonely life he led....so BIG.. he couldn't check his mail...couldn't step outside... couldn't go to the store and buy his own ice cream... almost prisoner...how sad... and lonely it must have been at the top...

I do admit that he was a tad strange and his physical transformation was at times a little scary.. and confusing...

His daughter will be how I remember him....for along time...

Regardless of what I thought or didn't think of Michael.. I must realize that to us he is a Musical Legend.. a Performer... an Icon...
But to a woman out there tonight... she just buried her SON... 3 children just buried their DAD... and a host of grown men and women just buried their Baby BROTHER... he was MORE than a Performer...he was someones CHILD..

.... and for that my heart feels sad.... for the mother, the daughter, the sister, the friend....

I pray for them and I hope that wherever Michael is today, he has finally found the Peace he was never able to find with us...