MJ

I cannot even believe that Michael Jackson is dead.

I heard the news that he was hospitalized, in cardiac arrest, and critical condition. I didn't think any of that sounded good, but I don't know... I guess I still didn't think he would actually die.

Then Michael received a text message from a friend that said "RIP Michael Jackson." I turned on CNN, checked the CNN homepage, MSNBC, etc. and couldn't find anything that said he had actually died. I saw that The Drudge Report and TMZ were reporting it, but I was not going to believe it until it was reported by more reputable news sources.

I kept checking the news and Twitter on my BlackBerry as we drove to my in-laws' to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday, but found nothing new. Just tons of speculation. As we walked in the door at Michael's parents', they said that Michael Jackson's death had just been confirmed on the Nightly News.

So sad.

In a lot of ways, I feel like the "real" Michael Jackson, the one everyone loved, "died" many years ago when he became so weird. But it's still hard to believe. I'm kind of in shock!

You see, Michael Jackson is part of my earliest memories. I absolutely *loved* him and his music as a child. I have no idea how I was introduced to it all, but I was the definition of a crazed fan... at the tender age of two. TWO!!

My grandma brought me a Michael Jackson t-shirt when she came to visit, and I loved wearing it so much that I would cry when my mom would take it off of me to wash it. Even as a toddler, I knew how to put on the record player and put the needle on it to play his albums.

When "Thriller" came out, my dad bought me the Thriller disks for my Viewfinder. I looked through them, and apparently started crying and was totally freaked out about the pictures of him as a zombie/werewolf. HA! It was a little too much for my 2-year-old self. But instead of taking away the disks, my dad simply took an Xacto knife to them and cut out the scary images. After that, I happily cycled through them on my Viewfinder, every once in a while coming to an empty slide that I had to click past. :)

In the years that followed, we have countless home videos of my brothers and I dancing around like goofballs in the living room to "Beat It" and "Billy Jean" and all of the other hits.

As I got older, I still loved all of the music he released. His performance at the SuperBowl--loved it!

Now, of course, I still love all the classics. We had several of his songs played at our wedding. In fact, Michael and his friend (one of our groomsmen), Jason, did a short MJ impression. Jason is really good at it, he has even mastered the moonwalk.

I was saddened to learn about Farrah Fawcett's death, but was particularly bummed to hear about the King of Pop. His poor family.

RIP Michael Jackson. You were an amazing performer, and quite frankly, a legend.