Goodbye Michael Jackson...

I write this tonight in complete and utter shock, I thought I would be much older when reminiscing about Michael Jackson, but here goes...

I was at the perfect age when Michael Jackson got crowned the King of Pop and waited with baited breath for his next piece of music to excite us all. I grew up as Michael did in his career following every new release

I was 10 when Off the Wall came out. My friend Mandy and I would play that album over and over again (OK sometimes we would rotate with Styx Mr. Roboto) and make up our own dance moves, sing into the hairbrush, the TOTAL young girl cliche. I was young enough and my voice high enough that I could match his "whoo" at the beginning of "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough"

I remember seeing the Billie Jean video before I knew about the album. MTV was new at the time (and it was the time when they played videos non-stop). Wow! Walking to that forever-recognizable beat along the sidewalk that would randomly light up, you had me at Hello. Spending AGES trying to figure out what he was saying when he said "The kid is not my son." The album came out and again, I played it it non-stop. Even before "P.Y.T" was a single it was my favorite song.

I had this poster on my wall through out all of junior high school.

The videos were amazing. I remember I was the only one of my friends who owned the VHS video tape of the "Making of Thriller" with the "Thriller" video. We watched it non stop, non stop.

Thriller was the first CD I ever bought...when CDs first came out. I, of course, already owned the album.

I remember watching him on the Motown 25 show where he showcased the glove and the moon walk. I had "glove liners" that I wore skiing that were metallic and after that I walked around with it on my hand.

When he first became big, he was still touring with the Jackson 5. They did not come to Atlanta, the closest place was Jacksonville, FL. My dad got us tickets and we drove there to see him.

In high school, when it was un-cool to say you were a fan...this is long after Bad came out, I had tickets to see him and called all my friends to see him - he was an incredible entertainer, incredible.

So Michael thank you. Thank you for entertaining me. Thank you for getting me to unabashedly sing in the middle of my bedroom into my hairbrush trying to moon walk. You were my first entertainer that I was absolutely enamored with and you deserved it. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world. Thank you for giving a geeky pre-teen girl a reason to hang out with the cool kids and share in some great music.

You will be missed.