Thursday, July 9, 2009

Will You Be There?



To say that my opportunity to attend Michael Jackson's memorial service was a historic, once-in-a-lifetime, amazing opportunity brimming with good fortune, is to underestimate the magnitude of the experience.

In 1988, my parents bought tickets to see Michael on the Bad world tour. In the weeks and months leading to this event; my cousin Katie and I would discuss, at length, our plans to communicate via walkie talkie en route to the Tacoma Dome. Everyone was excited...I was beside myself. Michael was my hero. Bad was THE album. It was something of a dream come true...

Sadly, Michael cancelled the show due to illness. He would never return to my area of the world again...

My faith in the great Michael Jackson was undeterred by this event. Through thick and thin, cool and uncool...I still carried with me a love for his music and a great compassion for the man. While I can't claim to have not taken part in the various jokes, speculations and sensationalism that followed Michael in his later years; I can say that deep in my heart I have carried him with me through all my years on this earth. His influence on my life is undeniable. Sadly, this is something I have come to learn only in the few weeks since his passing.

I was at the dry cleaners dropping of pants to be hemmed when Megan (my lovely girlfriend) sent me the text that Michael had died. I had seen reports that he had been hospitalized, but, I could not believe that he would ever die. So, I checked Twitter, I checked Google News....when the reports were confirmed, when my friends started calling, offering condolences...I had to come to terms with his death. It was strange, people die all the time, celebrities come and go. But, losing Michael had a deep impact on me, it was as if my childhood had been taken away.

Through the next week, Megan and I watched hours and hours of concert footage and YouTube videos. We searched the news, we listened to his music. When it was rumored that his memorial and burial was to be held at Neverland, my Mom and I made plans to fly down, carpool, whatever it took to be there. I talked about it all the time at work (which happens to be for a regional airline..more on that later). I felt a very strong need to be present, to say goodbye and more important, say thank you to Michael. As the plans changed and the story unfolded, my feelings never changed, but, I came to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be able to say goodbye in person...Especially when it was announced that a lottery would be held for the public memorial at the Staples center.

On Saturday afternoon, I read the news of the 8,750 tickets being given away to the Staples center memorial via lottery. I immediately entered my name, but never expected to have my name drawn. Later that evening, a good friend and co worker, Mindy, sent me a text message. She had entered to win the tickets as well, she wanted to increase my chances of going to the service. I thanked her and felt that it was very sweet but, once again, I didn't expect that anything would happen.

On Sunday morning I woke up with the word to Man In The Mirror echoing in my head. My parents had asked me to attend church with them, I agreed and thought it a good opportunity to, perhaps, learn something. During the service, a thought occurred to me. My friend Jason and I had been talking over the past year about the Law of Attraction and the power of positive thinking. At some point, as the pastor spoke, I decided to test this theory in a very simple way. I decided to expect to win tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial. What seemed like a simple, almost trivial favor to ask of the universe soon became a life lesson that I won't soon forget.

At 11:30pm on Sunday night, I had nearly forgotten about my request. Though, I still felt its urgency I had accepted the fact that it wouldn't come to fruition. When I checked my email and saw that I hadn't won the Staples Center lottery, I felt at peace and was ready to go to bed and face the next day. It was then that Mindy and I exchanged the following text messages:

Mindy: "did u get mj mem tickets?"
Bobby: "Nope. :( I heard that 1.5 million people applied..."
M: "i did. can i call u?"

Words fail to describe the shock I felt when I read that final message. In my mind, there was no way it could be real.

A quick word about Mindy: She is a great friend and one of the few honest people in this world. She also goes to bed pretty damn early. For her to be up at 11:30 on a Sunday night is, to put it mildly, unexpected. For her to check her email at that hour? Something of a miracle.

The story continues....


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