Yesterday was a very sad day as both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died. It kind of felt like a little piece of my childhood died with them. Farrah was my favorite angel. I always wanted to be Jill, but since I was a brunette I always had to be Kelly. My friend Tracy (yes that is us in my back yard, circa 1976), who was also a brunette by the way, always got to be Jill just because her always bleached out to almost blond
every summer with all the sun and chlorine. Totally unfair. I, however, did possess the most coveted, 'Jill Monroe' trading card. And a 'Charlie's Angels' lunch box. I wish I still had both, but I'm sure my mother threw both of them out, long long ago. OH, and by the way this iconic poster? It hung on the wall of my second grade classroom. No lie! My teacher, either Mr. Pettijohn or Mr. Leeper, I forget which one was a big fan and hung it on the wall of the classroom. The other was a fan of Cheryl Tieggs and her poster hung on the wall as well. How well do you think that would fly today? We all knew that Farrah was pretty sick and with all the press coverage lately, the announcement of her death, while sad was not nearly as shocking as Michael Jackson's. This one even got a phone call from my sister who was driving and heard it on the radio. I was not a huge Michael Jackson fan, but I liked some of his music and had the album 'Thriller'. Who didn't? In fact, I believe it is warping in my attic as I type.... No, the big Michael fan in our family had to be my little brother. Yep, Uncle Bernie loved him some Michael Jackson! I remember the big family vacation to Disney Land in December of 1984. I was 14, he was 7, my sister was 11. He had one of those Michael Jackson
jackets with all the zippers and my grandma had hand sewn a bunch of silver sequins on an old white glove for him. He wore this lovely "ensem" every where we went. My sister and I begged our mom not to let him as we were a teenager and a "tween" and were terribly embarrassed. My mother was a good mother and refused our request, instead allowing her little boy, to be a little boy. (I am now learning this lesson. See Mr. Sam's 'Wicked' photos....) Looking back it was very sweet actually. Oh, but if I can find any of those old pictures, I am totally scanning them and posting them! Ok, so like I said, not a huge Michael fan, more so a Farrah fan. Watching all the coverage last night, I only cried once. When they showed Farrah's documentary and they showed the part where her son was allowed to leave jail and visit her. He crawled in her bed, called her 'mommy' and I lost it. I'm tearing up thinking about it right now. But here's the weird thing. I was in my car today and 104.5 was doing a musical tribute to Michael Jackson. I'm singing 'I want you back' at the top of my lungs and I burst into tears! I must be premenstrual. Or maybe it was because I wasn't picturing the freak show that he had become, but that sweet little boy who sang that song, who I guess in a way, died a long time ago. Oh my God, I can't believe I just wrote that. I am definitely pre-menstrual. I've got to go yell at my husband or something so I can feel like myself again.....
Yesterday was a very sad day as both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died. It kind of felt like a little piece of my childhood died with them. Farrah was my favorite angel. I always wanted to be Jill, but since I was a brunette I always had to be Kelly. My friend Tracy (yes that is us in my back yard, circa 1976), who was also a brunette by the way, always got to be Jill just because her always bleached out to almost blond 
every summer with all the sun and chlorine. Totally unfair. I, however, did possess the most coveted, 'Jill Monroe' trading card. And a 'Charlie's Angels' lunch box. I wish I still had both, but I'm sure my mother threw both of them out, long long ago. OH, and by the way this iconic poster? It hung on the wall of my second grade classroom. No lie! My teacher, either Mr. Pettijohn or Mr. Leeper, I forget which one was a big fan and hung it on the wall of the classroom. The other was a fan of Cheryl Tieggs and her poster hung on the wall as well. How well do you think that would fly today? We all knew that Farrah was pretty sick and with all the press coverage lately, the announcement of her death, while sad was not nearly as shocking as Michael Jackson's. This one even got a phone call from my sister who was driving and heard it on the radio. I was not a huge Michael Jackson fan, but I liked some of his music and had the album 'Thriller'. Who didn't? In fact, I believe it is warping in my attic as I type.... No, the big Michael fan in our family had to be my little brother. Yep, Uncle Bernie loved him some Michael Jackson! I remember the big family vacation to Disney Land in December of 1984. I was 14, he was 7, my sister was 11. He had one of those Michael Jackson 
jackets with all the zippers and my grandma had hand sewn a bunch of silver sequins on an old white glove for him. He wore this lovely "ensem" every where we went. My sister and I begged our mom not to let him as we were a teenager and a "tween" and were terribly embarrassed. My mother was a good mother and refused our request, instead allowing her little boy, to be a little boy. (I am now learning this lesson. See Mr. Sam's 'Wicked' photos....) Looking back it was very sweet actually. Oh, but if I can find any of those old pictures, I am totally scanning them and posting them! Ok, so like I said, not a huge Michael fan, more so a Farrah fan. Watching all the coverage last night, I only cried once. When they showed Farrah's documentary and they showed the part where her son was allowed to leave jail and visit her. He crawled in her bed, called her 'mommy' and I lost it. I'm tearing up thinking about it right now. But here's the weird thing. I was in my car today and 104.5 was doing a musical tribute to Michael Jackson. I'm singing 'I want you back' at the top of my lungs and I burst into tears! I must be premenstrual. Or maybe it was because I wasn't picturing the freak show that he had become, but that sweet little boy who sang that song, who I guess in a way, died a long time ago. Oh my God, I can't believe I just wrote that. I am definitely pre-menstrual. I've got to go yell at my husband or something so I can feel like myself again.....
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