Where were you when you heard?

This day started off wonderfully. I dialyzed for 8 and a half hours. Boy did I feel “cleansed”.

I went to lunch today with a good friend. We had a great time. Well, the lunch wasn’t particularly good. In fact…I didn’t eat it at all. It was shrimp, veggies, noodles and wontons in broth. The shrimp must have been cooked in the broth…but I don’t think the broth was hot enough when they put the shrimp in there because the shrimp was raw. Raw in spite of the fact that the shrimp was cut down the middle length wise. The veggies were also raw. I’d have liked it much better if the veggies had been blanched at least for a couple of minutes. The huge raw red onions were unappealing. The actual wontons were gross. They eventually took it off of our bill. I gave our server a $10 tip on a $30 bill. It was the right thing to do, especially since I would have been paying for the meal anyways…I gave less than what the meal cost, but a generous tip nonetheless.

After that, my friend and I shopped for a short while. I picked up a few shirts here and there that I could wear to work. We enjoyed some ice cream…then went home.

I went home and watched the young and the restless. After the young and the restless is the news. I was lying on my bed watching tv when the story first broke: Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital due cardiac arrest. I was still on my bed minutes later when they announced that there had been reports that he had passed away.

I went onto facebook. A few friends here and there has posted about it as well. So did the popular tabloid website TMZ. I needed more confirmation. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I text messaged my sister. She was just as shocked.

After a few hours of crossing my fingers and hoping it wasn’t true…the bad news was confirmed my the coroner in L.A. Michael Joseph Jackson – dead at 50 years old.

I was raised on Michael Jackson’s music. I don’t personally remember this, but my mom told me that when I was very young, we were at disney world in Florida having lunch. While we were eating, the song Billie Jean came on. I immediately started grunting and fussing at my mom, wanting her to lift me off of the chair and onto the floor, which she did. As soon as my tiny feet hit the ground, I started to dance up a storm. I danced and I danced. Not many artists or songs were powerful enough to pull me away from a plate of fries…but Michael Jackson was one of those artists. I was so animated, people around me enjoying their own meals stopped to watch and clap. Some even gave me money.

I am at a loss. This is such a tragedy. Michael Jackson- an icon. An inspiration to many artists.

This post is not meant to take away from the other two icons that we have lost this week: Farrah Fawcett and Ed Mcmahon. The loss of these great icons is also terrible – …it’s just that the death of Michael Jackson was just so out of the blue and unexpected (for me).

Where were you when you heard?