This Is It

So, this was one of the best Graduation presents I ever received. Thank you so much Dorthy, Greg, John, and Danna. If you can't see well, this is a framed Michael Jackson album.
Oh yes, I said album. There is a very old and very worn record in that frame. Okay, it all starts back when I was five years old living in San Diego. I was in kindergarten and my friends Louis, Katy, and I loved getting together in our neighborhood listening to Michael Jackson. We would meet up with a boom box and our tapes and just dance. Louis was the best Michael Jackson dancer and we would practice all the moves from his music videos. We would meet up after school and on the weekend with our Jean Jackets with snap buttons and medical tape on our fingertips. I am pretty sure we were Michael Jackson's biggest five year old fans in the world.

Right around my seventh birthday my parents bought me the movie Moonwalker. I would watch that movie all the time. I still have it to this day. I used to watch it frequently up until 2004 when our VCR broke and we never replaced it.

I remember when Invincible was released and I was soo excited because it had been the longest gap between album releases since Michael Jackson started releasing albums. I loved it and listened to it constantly.

While living in Connecticut around 1993, my parents had a garage sale they were planning. They sold their 8-track player along with all their 8-tracks. When Jenn and I were helping my mom collect all the garage sale items, we came across the last of their records. They are gotten rid of a lot of records before our move to Connecticut and they were finally getting rid of the last of them. Jenn had a super rad tape, radio, record player in her room and I managed to salvage one record from the pile. Michael Jackson's thriller. Until Jenn finally got rid of her record player in 1998, we still used it to play that record.

It became my centerpiece for my living room for a very long time. I had it on the dresser or mantle in my bedroom until I moved to Utah for college. It graced my living room in Utah. It was the center of my bedroom after returning from college. The album came with me to Hawaii and was put up on the shelf when I was there. When I returned home it was still with me. When Shane and I got married and moved into our first apartment together it was on the mantle in our living room. We always had it out.

One day, my sister Dorthy came from Idaho to visit and saw it in our living room. Her eyes lit up and she said, "No way! My Thriller record! I thought this was gone! You salvaged it when mom and dad got rid of everything?" She was so excited and of course if it was hers I wasn't going to make a big fuss when she asked for it. After all it was hers. I swallowed and happily handed it over. When she walked out the door I just cried. I couldn't believe the record that was mine for so long... was gone. I was so sad. Both Shane and Jenn told me Dorthy wouldn't care and I should just tell her how much it meant to me. I just wiped away my tears and told them I was fine. If one of my siblings had something of mine I would expect them to offer it up, and I would be fine. I was still sad, but had no hard feelings for Dorthy. I cried a few times about that album. When I would look around the room, it just wasn't there anymore. It was never forgotten, but I was okay after a month. A few years later Shane found me a few albums which included Thriller at a garage sale. I was soo excited because they all were in mint condition, but it wasn't the same one.

Years past and I got wind of Michael Jackson's final concert. I was extremely tempted to get a ticket to Europe to go to one. It was my one of my biggest dreams to see him in concert. He was the best performer, amazing singer, and even more amazing dancer. I mentioned it to Shane, but we never seriously talked about getting a ticket.

Then it happened. Dorthy was with the family for Christmas last year and we all got together at Matt and Patty's house. We were all opening gifts from each other on Christmas Eve and Dorthy hands me one more. She says, "This is your graduation present from John & Danna, and Greg & I." I was so excited! I opened it up and just started crying. The Thriller album that was Dorthy's. She never even knew how much it meant to me, but had arranged to get it framed and returned. She said she just thought about it and it didn't really matter to her anymore. She knew I was a huge fan and she knew I liked the album, so she talked to Greg, John and Danna and they went in on it together. Until recently it was the only picture up in my living room.
My amazing siblings! Thanks again!
The day he died I was in Redding, CA driving around running errands. It was so sad. I was listening to the radio, when I heard. Then, I started receiving calls and texts from all my family and friends. They all knew I would care. I cried that night. I wouldn't get to see him in concert. Sad. Every now and then I would cry when I here his music. He was amazing!
He was the King of Pop!
R.I.P. Michael Jackson at age 50.
August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009
Obviously I had been awaiting This Is It. I got to see it on Friday November 6th with my sisters Patty and Tammy and my friend Jessica Byers. It was better than what I expected. I would love to see it again and again. I wanted to see it again right after watching it! I only cried 5 times and luckily managed to stop the crying after starting. The tour was going to be Epic. He had some amazing new material for Thriller and Smooth Criminal. He has been my favorite performer since I was five years old. I don't think I will see a performer in this lifetime that is as talented as Michael Jackson.