A sad day...

It never crossed my mind that when my daughter and I headed in from the pool to try out "Mommy's" new Wii fitness game that we would see "Michael Jackson 1958-2009" flashed across the screen. Immediately I blurted out, "Michael Jackson died?!" to which my daughter replied, "He did?!" I was thrown. How could she know who Michael Jackson was? Ah yes... one of her friends had recently introduced her to Thriller on You Tube. Frankly, I had been annoyed... it scared her enough to make us both afraid she would have nightmares (which luckily did not happen - dancing zombies are never as terrifying as they seem!) and secondly I never really cared much for "Thriller". I was a BIG Jackson 5 fan - Mama's Pearl, ABC, I Want You Back... Not so much the solo career. Although I'm sure I danced to almost all his hits during the disco era! But those Jackson 5 songs... LOVE them. Anyway, right after she saw Thriller on You Tube (maybe 2 weeks ago?) she asked me if Michael Jackson was still alive. I laughed - "Of course, honey! He's my age!" Not exactly laughing now, am I? So as I sat transfixed by the breaking news, my daughter says "First I think he's dead, then he's alive, now he's dead again."

When I was a kid, I spent Saturdays with my mom at the "beauty salon". That was where I learned about Judy Garland's death. From a magazine in a stack left there for the ladies to pass the time under the dryer. My mother had to explain to me that she was a grown woman, not still the little girl from "The Wizard of Oz". I was devastated. I grew up to become a big Judy Garland fan - read all the bios, saw all the movies, enjoy the drag queens... seriously! I love a good Judy! I wonder if my daughter will become a big Michael Jackson fan? Hmmm.... I am deliberately leaving out any possible drag queen joke out of respect for the recently departed. We'll see if I have the same self-control in a week or so...

So like John Lennon, Princess Diana and John Kennedy Jr., I will always remember where I was when I heard Michael Jackson died. With my daughter. And she will always remember she was with me. Although... with the whole helicopter thing... most things she'll remember will be with me! Unless she's at school or the ice skating rink (that's a recent development - my leaving her there on her own for a bit) or watching You Tube seeing Thriller for the first time with one of her friends... RIP Michael.