I had just that moring read the AOL news of Farrah Facett dying then before I left the site the news of Michael Jackson pronounced died on the scene. Wow! I couldn’t believe it. What a week. Ed McMann the day before Michael and Farrah Facett. I remember playing Charlie’s Angels with my family members when we were all little. That was in the 80’s when I was old enough to understand they were tough ladies. From the replay of the episodes that depicted her life I was able to realize what I didn’t understand as a child, they were lady cops!!!!! Wow! How impowering. I must have been about 4 or 5 when I and my niece who is one day older than me, would run around chasing my nephews (also, older than me) as we would pretend to be Charlie’s Angels after the bad guys. I was a little older when Wonder Woman was made into a real show followed by the Fall Guy and the Incredible Hulk. These shows brought my favorite cartoons to life. I would watch the show and when they went off we would pretend we were Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels I remember we had their action figures too. This was all when I lived in Gary, Indiana and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By the time we move to California to stay I was 7 1/2 years old and had just finish a school year (2nd grade) in one state, Wisconsin. We had been back and forth from Cali to the Mid-west a few times. The 3rd time was the charm but life was lonely in California. I was the only kid around the house in San Jose, California. Mom and I were suppose to live with my uncle till my mom got on her feet. We came in the summer so I went everywhere with my mom, job searching in the SJ Public Library . We joined my grandma’s Pentacostal Church of which I stayed a member 19 years until I turned 25. I also started 1st grade in a California school. At that point I finally had friends my own age!
My uncle kicked us out of his house because of fights over who should be in charge of my grandmother. Then we lived with mom’s friends. I stayed at one school because we used my uncle’s address. But I had to be up early every morning to get to school on time. At school and church is where I learned Michael Jackson and I were born in the same town, some one mentioned it. My sisters and brothers who are currently in their late 40’s and early 50’s grew up going to school with them until they moved to California but that was before my time and it was before the Jackson family was famous for their talents so I didn’t make a connection besides I was 6 1/2 years old that was the start of the 1984 school year. I had left my older siblings, their dad (who I called grand daddy), my own dad and my nephews & nieces behind in the mid-west when I was 6years old to move to California with my mom.
It wasn’t until returning to the mid-west for my 2nd grade year when my family asked me did you see Michael Jackson? I wish! I lived in San Jose, CA and from what I learned he lived in L.A. we visited my mom’s cousin Henry in L.A. but we weren’t looking for Michael Jackson, I was excited about Disney Land and california stuff that I could share with my dad. We sent him back a Mickey Mouse T-Shirt and I picked out a Minnie Mouse Shirt for my mom. They weren’t together anymore but I had hope for my parents. Anyway, Now that I am older and everyone has been to California (except dad) at least once, we all know that California is huge and L.A. is more like a region than a city. So sad, I never meet Micahel Jackson. I have pictures of his childhood house that we snapped in 2003 when I went to visit my dad who lives in the apartment building down the street from that house. My dad said Michael Jackson’s uncle still lived there while we here taking pictures. He also said Michael Jackson visted Gary, Indiana less frequently than I did since moving away but every time Michael came to Gary the Mayor gave him the keys to the City (full access to everything he wanted to see and do). The News says Micheal Jackson’s uncle locked up the childhood house last week when Michael Jackson died, so sad.
