As just about everyone knows, Michael Jackson passed away yesterday. I know, in later years he morphed from Genius to Strangest Person Alive, there's no real ignoring that. But hearing the news still shook me to my slightly numbed core.

This year has been pretty rough on me, which has left me either too weepy to like myself or too numb to react properly. My emotional synapses have been worn to little nubs, I think. But as I was sitting on my stairs yesterday, opening my computer to check in for work, I just never saw the loss of the legend coming. And I never expected how it would effect me.

When I was a kid, there were two things everyone in the world loved--Michael Jackson and Pepsi. Conveniently, the two came in one amazing package on tv. The soundtrack of my admittedly uneventful life was to the sound of his music. In fact, one of the most exciting events that happened when I was young was my mother's purchase of the Thriller album. We were allowed to look at the cover--not touch--and to read the lyrics on the album sleeve--remember the drawings??--but we could not, under threat of dismemberment, play the album or open it without her present.

Okay, yes, we snuck it out all the time.

We stayed up til midnight one night in early December to see Thriller--a video that still causes nightmares for me, lol--back when staying up til midnight was the ultimate in child skills. But we did it. For Michael.

That attitude never shifted. I'd tune into anything if he was going to be on it because I never wanted to miss the magic that only he could produce. I'm not one of those girls who'd sob uncontrollably at the sight of him and I know I didn't know the man personally, but like millions of other people out there, I was touched by his singular gift. And his songs are keys to a million memories, moments with people who are gone and have left even larger indentations on my life. So, I know it's crazy to write an ode to a man I never met.

But I still mourn for a man who meant so much to my life.

Rest in Peace, Michael.