As Michael Jackson is laid to rest……

I add this post, not because I am hoping that it will draw attention, but for me to pay my respects to Michael as he is laid to rest.  No, I did not know him personally. No, he was not family. Yet, I grew up with Michael. As a lover of music, brought up by parents who also enjoyed music…MJ’s voice was always heard in my home, along with Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Patti Labelle, The Gap Band and Earth, Wind and Fire, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Lionel Ritchie, Peabo Bryson, KISS (That’s right!) and the list goes on.  In fact, my mother still has the famous “OFF THE WALL” record…you know, “vinyl”. 🙂  It seems like he has always been.  I liked the old and the new music of Michael and my children now enjoy his music as well.

It saddens me to think that I there is no need to sit in anticipation of the possibility of a new album. It saddens me to think that I don’t have the opportunity to see him on stage as an adult. I am SO glad that my parents surprised my brother and I (this was LONG before the “second set of siblings” came along) by taking us to what was then the Capital Centre to see the Jackson Five Reunion Tour.  I must have only been about 8 or 9, wearing the purple outfit that my mother made me (and you could not tell me a thing!!). I danced the entire time!!

Michael Jackson is a household name, one that transcended cultural, racial, age and income barriers and is thus a means for sharing a collective experience.  He may not have been perfect but does that not just make him human like the rest of us?

I was a part of the red and black leather jacket with the zippers, one white glove, white socks, “Rock With You”, moonwalking generation as a young girl. I know the steps to “Thriller”, I still consider myself a “P.Y.T: (and I had the pink shirt cut off shirt to prove it in my hey-day!), I do “Remember the Time” and I know “I’m Bad”.

Rest in Peace MJ and thanks for the memories. 🙂   😦