Goodbye Whitney

My Favorite Whitney Houston Album

I was shocked yesterday to read a headline that claimed Whitney Houston drown the bathtub of a Beverly Hills Hotel. I was even more shocked to discover it was true. Never in a million years would I have thought she would die that way.There is always an weird...sense of disbelief when a well known celebrity dies, especially one who was a part of your childhood and you admired as a kid.  I feel sad that she is gone. I feel even more sad that she didn't get to live to be an old woman. I never actually knew her of course, but she was a part of my life just the same. After all, I've never lived in a world that didn't have Whitney Houston in it. It's still sort of impossible to imagine.  I have so many fond memories of her, and as a small tribute from a fan, I thought I'd share a few.

I used to put on dance shows for my parents (totally choreographed by yours truly) to her songs and sing along. I remember jumping and twirling around  their bedroom while they lay in bed trying to look impressed.

We had an album of hers that we listened to over and over on a trip to Hawaii when I was 8 or 9. To this day when I hear any of the songs on it I am reminded of that great family trip, riding in the car, seeing things I'd never seen before like HUGE green mountains, and how excited and happy I was. That album is the soundtrack to one of my "perfect" memories growing up.

 I'm not sure if this should actually be classified as a "fond" memory, but I also sang Where Do Broken Hearts Go in front of my ENTIRE school when I was in 4th or fifth grade. I know it sounds insane, but I had Whitney backing me up. What could go wrong? I thought I was the shit at the time (because she was so awesome and I thought I sounded almost exactly like her), but pretty much ever since then it's been more of a "oh-my-god I can't believe I did that..." kind of feeling. And every time I watch the video those flat notes I repeatedly hit keep getting longer and flatter and....but I digress.

I know Whitney had a rough go of things for a while, and there were probably more than natural causes involved in her death, but I for one will always remember the way she was when I was a little girl. She'll always be a superstar to me.