What a loss - Michael Jackson has passed away.

I can't believe that I am saying this out loud, but I was and always have been a big fan of Michael Jackson, In middle school I wore the black Members Only jacket. In middle school I had the big MJ poster in my room - three of them actually. In middle school I owned the silver glove - never took it out of the package because I was really a closet MJ fan.

My appreciation for the genius never really left my bedroom. - not even my closest friends even knew that I was a fan. It just wasn't cool. As I grew older I realized exactly what he brought to the music industry, and exactly what he brought to the world. He was a musical genius, and as with most geniuses, slightly crazy.

He wasn't ever really right in the head, but that added to his allure - at least until it got really weird when he was a bit older. Then he was just another weird musician - it was kind of like watching a car accident - you just can't turn your back on it. Dangling kids out of hotel windows, skin lightenings, substance abuse, hair catching on fire filming a commercial, allegations of child abuse at his home, you name the strangeness that accompanied him as he got older. Still, through all of this I really appreciated all that he brought to the table. He was indeed a cultural icon, and he certainly brought some light into my life during those tough middle school years. Sad to say that today he passed away. The world lost a musical genius, and for the first time as an adult I'm admitting out loud for all to hear that I was a Michael Jackson fan.

Original DC Metro Moms post. When not mourning the loss of a cultural icon, Suzie also blogs about daily life with a gang of kids at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman.