My little piece of MJ...

This pic was taken in August 1985, in front of
the Mann Theatre (I was 9).

So I was/am a HUGE fan of Michael Jackson, and am so sad he is gone. When I was younger, we spent quite a bit of our summer's in California, and I actually have a picture of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. When I was in 3rd grade I paid a girl $1 to make me a handwritten button that said I 'heart' Michael Jackson. Another cool little tidbit, the daughter of my elementary school principal, Mr. Thumbtzen, was the girl Michael Jackson was chasing around in his The Way You Make Me Feel video. And that particular principal and I had a special bond, so to speak, because when I was in 5th grade, I was the only kid that made the Dean's list (a.k.a straight A's...yeah that's right! :), and so he came to my classroom and presented me with a really nice Cross pen that had a digital clock on it. I thought it was the coolest thing to date.
Weird to think of my kid's growing up without something that was such a huge part of my childhood. Guess I'll have to play the HIStory collection CD's I still have in the visor of my car. I'm sure they will love it because they already love all my other music!
I think really, this week especially with all the celebrity deaths, it just helps to refocus our thoughts and energy into the things that really matter. I've been doing a lot of soul searching in recent months and I think I'm finally getting back to 'my happy place'. I still miss my dad so much, every day, and oddly enough, yesterday would have been my parents 65th wedding anniversary.