Rock Forever

Even though the pain and heartache

Seems to follow me wherever I go

Though I try and try to hide my feelings

They always seem to show

Then you try to say you're leaving me

And I always have to say no...Tell me why

Is it so

That I

Never can say goodbye

No no no no,

I

Never can say goodbye

This was my initial shock on hearing the news while on my way to a baseball game. Nah-uh, stop playing. Mike ain't dead. How can you believe a gossip site?? (tmz first confirmed it)

Another day is gone, I'm still all alone

How could this be, when you're not here with me

You never said goodbye, someone tell me why

Did you have to go, and leave my world so cold

Everyday I sit and ask myself

How did love slip away?

Something whispers in my ear and says,

That you are not alone

I am here with you

Though you're far away

I am here to stay

You are not alone

I am here with you

Though we're far apart

You're always in my heart

But you are not alone

On Friday, these lyrics made me close my office door (even though I was here solo) and openly weep for his passing. I started this blog on Friday (as evidenced by the date above) but I didn't have it in me to write anything. On Friday it was real. There was no "Gotcha". No waving of the gloved hand from a hospital window. Nada. Just sadness and disbelief.

So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf

And just enjoy yourself

Groove, let the madness in the music get to you

Life ain't so bad at all

If you live it off the wall

Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall)

Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)

By Friday afternoon, I had received over a dozen emails, text messages and facebook announcements that my favorite Friday party was gonna be an MJJ tribute. So as he instructed I left my 9 to 5 up on the shelf, and just enjoyed myself. Despite the line to get in (and I have NAYVER stood on line for this party), despite my five inch heels not lasting as long as I would have like them to, I partied just as Michael Jackson has been instructing me to do all my life:

Gotta hide your inhibitions

Gotta let that fool loose deep inside your soul

Want to see an exhibition

Better do it now before you get to old'

Cause we're the party people night and day

Livin' crazy that's the only way

I let that fool loose on the dance floor. It was the only way I knew to pay my respects to the man who was my first celebrity crush (back when he was brown skinned, and had had only maybe 1 or 2 nose jobs), the man who I saw in concert ON my birthday as a kid (I swore he planned it that way), the man who has provided a significant portion of the soundtrack to my life. By the end of the night, my entire body had cried a sea of tears in sweat.

You give me butterflies inside, inside and I

All I gotta say is that I must be dreaming, can't be real

You're not here with me, still I can feel you near to me

I hope the world allows this man to truly rest in peace. We will still feel him near with his songs, his movie videos, his gravity defying dance moves(Real Talk: How many of you busted your ass trying to moonwalk in socks or the Smooth Criminal lean??? hahahahahaa). Every time you hear his "shamon"s or his "ma ma se ma ma sa moo ma coo sa", you'll feel those butterlies and remember the time..........

And when the grove is dead and gone

yeah, you know that love survives

so we can rock forever

Michael Joseph Jackson August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

While he couldn't live forever, his music and his legacy will survive and there is no doubt that we'll rock forever.