Trifecta

What a week.....

Ed McMahon. Farrah Fawcett. Michael Jackson.

Ed McMahon. I suppose after watching the tributes about him this past week, he was most revered for being Johnny Carson's sidekick. I will always remember him as the man who was supposed to bring me my Publishers Clearing House winnings.

Farrah Fawcett. I was still a small child during the Charlie's Angels days. By the time I was old enough to "know" Farrah, her acting career was pretty much over. I knew her as an "old lady" (now that I'm as old as I am, I realize she wasn't that old!) that posed in Playboy, and a nut that made a fool of herself on Letterman.

However, out of sheer boredom about a month ago, I watched her cancer documentary. I'm glad I did. Not only did my perspective about her change, but my insight to dealing with cancer changed. I have had many family members lose their life to cancer, but I have never seen the horrific pain, sickness, and agony that the patient goes through like was shown in her documentary. I have a whole new respect for those fighting cancer.

My opinion of her as a person also changed. Instead of appearing like the loon she was on Letterman, she was eloquent and articulate. The journal entries she read gave an insight into what her personal struggle was with cancer. I also boo-hooed like a baby when her son came to see her for the last time. If any of you saw it, you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't see it, I can't explain it.

The other thing I learned from the documentary......Jaclyn Smith at any age is incredible stunning.

Michael Jackson. This, of course, was the most shocking death of the week. Say what you will about Michael Jackson--we all know he had some serious issues, especially in the last 15 years or so. But, probably like a lot of people my age, when I think about MJ, I think about Thriller. I think about the silver sequined glove and socks.

Thriller was my very first cassette tape. I think I was in 3rd grade when I got that tape. We didn't even have a cassette tape player in our house. My parents had to get an 8-track adapter to even play the cassette. I have no idea how much a cassette cost back in the early 80s, but I guarantee you we got our money's worth times 1000 out of that tape. For what seemed like years, I remember everytime we got in our black Ford conversion van (complete with mini-blinds, velvet drapes, and plush shag carpet) we would tell our dad to "punch in the tape and rewind it". And then we'd anxiously await for the first two low-note synthesized beats to "Beat It".

Good memories....