When I was 6-years-old I won a mirrored wall hanging of Michael Jackson, similar to this photo above, at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, PA. I remember listening to his RECORDS on my dad's record player (Riley has no understanding of what that is...if it's not an iPod, it doesn't mean anything!) over and over. My brother, Michael, used to wear this red pleather looking outfit, resembling the red leather jacket that Michael Jackson used to wear during his 'Thriller' days.
We practiced the "Moonwalk" and mortified the parental units when we grabbed our crotches like Michael did, with a sequined gloved hand pointed straight in the air.
Last night, Michael Jackson passed away -- and it truly left me in a strange state of shock. Although I fell asleep to the news stories reminiscing and reviewing his short 50-year life, I still could not believe that this pop legend passed away and ran to the tv this morning to make sure it was true.
I'm not devastated, as I would be if it were a family member or loved one, but it's just crazy insane that he is dead. I knew he was mentally whacked, but had no idea that he was physically sick in a way that would kill him.
Trying to explain this to Riley was hard. We fortunately, have not lost anyone close to us. But, if you would have seen Ryan and I last night, you would have seen us go through a strange state of mind...just trying to comprehend it all. We paid tribute to him by playing his music (the early stuff) during dinner, only to have to explain to Riley, "no, this isn't a girl singing..." or telling her that it would be like "Miley Cyrus dying a lot later in life." Not a good way to equate what we were experiencing. (Yeah, mother of the year award winner right here.) But, we tried to put it in terms she would understand and it didn't quite go the way we wanted. Yes, she was reassured that Miley is 100% still alive.
Anyway, I will spend the next few days or so scouring all the tv channels and will stop to watch any music videos they might play...because we all know they don't make videos like they used to! (Remember the "World Premier" of his videos that would air on every channel?!)
May he finally rest in peace.
