Me. 1984. My "Michael Jackson" jacket.
Yes, I'm sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap.
Yes, the jacket is purple, and was probably purchased from Bradlees, a far cry from the red leather glory that Mr. Jackson donned for the Thriller video.
But this was MY Michael Jackson jacket. It had cool little straps on the shoulder, and a mesh pocket on the right side. I think I probably wore it every day.
In preschool, while the other children were bringing things like dolls and trucks for show and tell, I brought my Michael Jackson record. Mrs. Giardi even let us listen to it. I remember sitting on her lap in a bean bag chair, holding the record sleeve while showing-and-telling about my prized posession.
My first "date" was in kindergarten. I'm not going to name names, but a certain boy-friend of mine came over after school one afternoon, and my mom made us popcorn while we sat on the livingroom floor watching the making of Thriller that she had rented from Video Paradise for me.
This friend was probably unaware that we were on a "date", but I wasn't. Everyone knows popcorn and a movie constitutes a date ;)
When I was in preschool, I began to develop white "spots" on my left arm. By the time kindergarten hit, the "spots" had spread. I was diagnosed with a hereditary skin condition called Vitiligo. At first I didn't understand it. Once I entered kindergarten and the other kids started to notice my skin was different from theirs, the "issue" became more apparent. The other kids didn't understand what was "wrong" with my skin. Some were very cruel and others not to play with me or their skin would "fall off", too. Not a fun time.
But guess what? During one of my early doctor visits, I was reassured that I was NOT alone. Guess what famous person also had the same condition that I did? Yep, Michael Jackson. Well, now, that changed things for me a little bit :)
I began to tell the "haters" about my Michael Jackson story. Some cared, some didn't. That was fine with me. I just knew that I wasn't the only freak out there. I even told my music teacher about the "conenction" I had with MJ. The only issue? She didn't believe me, called me a liar in front of the whole class. Said there was no such ting as this crazy skin disease. I was devistated.
Until my mom found out about it.
Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned!!
She marched herself up to the Music teacher and GAVE HER AN EARFULL.
Thanks, mom!!
As time progressed, my love for the King of Pop waned. I moved on to other infamous artists like Debbie Gibson, NKOTB, Guns N' Roses, U2, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos (pretty much in that order).
I did, however, request that Billie Jean be played at my own wedding.
Last night at approximately 5:44, I received the earth shattering text message from a most reliable source, informing me that MJ had suffered a heart attack, soon followed by the news of his death. This was all before it had hit the news outlets (CNN took forever to get their act together). I was at work at teh BBC, and spread the word to my fellow employees. The manager even Twittered the news from the Falmouth BBC Twitter account (which I didn't even know existed until last night). The patrons of the restaurant were all a-buzz about the news on the TVs.
And here I am, Friday morning, blogging about Michael Jackson. My own little tribute, I guess.
Thanks for being my companion in the early years, Michael. Even though you got a *little* odd in your later years, you really were a pretty great part of this girl's early years :)
As a parting note, some of my favorite MJ jams....
Great post Melissa! Kids can be cruel but you survived and turned out to be one of the truly nicest, unselfish, people that I have ever met- and I mean that 100%.
on a non serious note, you look just like KP there when you were kids!
and I love mom's fury- my own mom went beserk on a certain gym teacher when he gave me my first C for only running the turkey trot in 10 mins; an athlete I was not! And after she gave him hell, my Dad had his turn and lets just say one time coming out of bradlees, I'm pretty sure I remember that gym teacher move to the other side of the mall - ha
Posted by: L Mac | June 26, 2009 at 12:49 PM
you were and still are so adorable:)mom's rock!
Posted by: june | June 27, 2009 at 08:24 PM
LOOK-at YOU! so cute...Rockin the Members Only, too (mine was light blue);)
Posted by: Tracy V | July 07, 2009 at 06:52 AM