Whitney

I don't think you can be a girl in my generation and not have Whitney Houston memories. Mine began pretty early in the car with my mom. We loved Whitney. We loved her voice. We loved her songs. She could do no wrong. How Will I Know? I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Greatest Love of All. Didn't we Almost Have it All. Etc. Then there was The Bodyguard. Queen of the Night. I Will Always Love You. The whole soundtrack was great. Of course it was...it was WHITNEY. In 8th grade in choir we sang "I'm your Baby Tonight" as a tribute to the 90's. Which is so weird in retrospect, but I will forever know every word to that song.

But, I have to admit that Whitney's hit that has left the most impact on me is "How Will I Know- Junior Vasquez Remix". Special thanks to my dance teacher for bringing it into my life during my senior year of high school. I LOVED THIS SONG. I know, I know...you're thinking..."really a remix?" Yes, a remix. It's life changing. I was in dance and our homecoming dance our senior year was to this song. Meaning we preformed this number in front of the entire high school at the homecoming assembly and then during half time at the homecoming game and again at our end of the year recital. I don't think I was the only one on our dance team that was crazy obsessed with this dance and this song. We all loved it and had so much fun dancing to it. It was the best memory to have with all of the senior girls that I had grown up dancing with. It was the perfect way to cap off my dancing days.

My memories with that song didn't stop in high school. I had this song on my Napster or Limewire or something like that on my computer in the dorms. So, freshmen year, I played it for Cox, my roommate who became one of my very best friends, and she was automatically crazy about it and we listened to it on repeat A LOT.( Not as much as Enrique Iglesias, which our suitemates, asked us to stop playing. Uggg. They were so not fun. We were making up a dance....hello?!) Anyway, it became of one of those songs that we always listened to while getting ready and would joke that we were going to play it at our weddings. I think this song spread to our whole group of friends, by the time we graduated college, we all had it on at least one burnt cd.

When I moved to Dallas after college, the song still popped up every now and then and did it's magic to make everyone happy and forget about our current issues and remind us of a simpler time in the 80s when Whitney ruled the pop charts. In 2009 at my bachelorette party, the most excellent hostess and party planner there is, Ande, burned cd's for all the attendees of the party and "How Will I Know Junior Vasquez Remix" was on there. When I was emailing the dj for my wedding, I told him I HAD to have that song play at the wedding. He said that was no problem. And so Whitney was with me on my wedding day and helped create one of my all time favorite memories of my friends and I dancing ferociously to that song.

Wedding reception. Me, the girls and Whitney. I think this is when I started sweating and the pictures take a turn to scary

Please ignore that weird graphic. Just listen to the song. ha.

So, to say that I'm sad about her passing is pretty obvious. It sounds a little silly, but her music was a part of my life, I grew up with it and her and the fact that she's gone feels wrong. I'm sad about her hard times and I'm sad that her life ended so soon. She really had a beautiful gift and knowing her music and her voice will continue to touch people makes me happy. But, it's all still just sad.

The world is a broken place and we are all broken people trying to figure it out. Though Whitney seeming had everything...wealth, fame...she couldn't escape that. None of us can. God keeps pursuing us, He keeps loving us no matter what and I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful He gave the world Whitney Houston to marvel at that voice and know that it could only be a gift from God.