Top 5 Dweebiest Things I Did Because I Loved Michael Jackson.
by Ashley Graham
Over the last 24 hours I've been thinking a lot about the 10 years of
my life spent as a Michael Jackson superrrrfan. Of all of the laminated
articles, VHS tapes filled with every television
performance/special/interview/video
premiere in my lifetime, memorized lyrics (me & Erin's rendition of
the "Black Or White" rap comes to mind), the times I made my little
cousin Emily watch "The Making of Thriller" even though she was
terrified of the zombies, and the many, many years in which I truly
believed I would marry Michael someday (that started in '87 at the age
of 3). The best way to cope with unexpected loss is to remember
everything great about someone, and in my case... what those great
things brought out in my crazy little personality from ages 3-13. And
I'm finally owning up to all of it...
5. Back in my Barbie-playing days, I made sure that they (the Barbies)
were kept in the loop on the coolest tunes, cutting miniature records
out of cardboard and scrawling "Thriller" and "Bad" on them.
4. Fifth grade. Mrs. Libby's class created a huge art exhibit for the
gymnasium at Colbert Elementary, encompassing all different periods of
art. One section was for portraits, done in colored pencils. There were
portraits of family members, presidents, babies... and mine, which was
a horrifyingly bad portrait of Michael Jackson. I hung onto that
colored pencil drawing until just last Christmas.
3. I once bought this biography/photo book of him at a cheap bookstore
at the Post Falls outlet mall, and it had a poster in it that was not
all that attractive (pink & white striped t-shirt, probably about
22 years old, with the slightest wisp of hair on his upper lip), and
while I had it flattening out on the floor of my room pre-hanging, I
dropped a snowglobe on it and started bawling because it was ruined
beyond repair. My mom tried to make me feel better by assuring me that
the picture wasn’t even that good, but it was no use…
2. I helped my mom bake a cake for Michael's birthday. It was yellow
cake, with chocolate frosting. No writing or anything (he wasn't
actually going to be there to eat it, after all), but enjoyed
thoroughly by the Graham family.
1. This happened multiple years, and I would have guessed it something
circa '90-'93-ish, yet given the name the last year it happened was
"HIStory: Past, Present & Future," it had to have been all the way
to 1995 (please don't do that math of my age at that time...). I
created a Michael Jackson exhibit with the aforementioned title that
went on display the week of Michael's birthday, August 29. It consisted
of various books, photos, laminated articles, etc (see that first
paragraph) on TV trays around my parents' basement. There were captions
for every item (written by hand on yellow legal pad pages) including
interesting facts about Michael, his family, etc. There was a guest
list (which included Connie, Dave and Erin Graham only). There was a
sign at the entrance. And yes, that final year (see 2), there was a
cake.
So many wonderful memories...
:)
If you've known me forever & remember other ridiculous things I'm forgetting, please remind me.
Love,
Ashley