Whitney

I’m not usually one to get attached to celebrities, but Whitney Houston is different. I have so many memories surrounding her music and that amazing voice. Today was her funeral, and I feel so sad.

I thought I’d pay her a little tribute today…

I grew up with Whitney’s voice ringing in my ears.

I first learned to love Whitney when I was 11 years old and my mom taught all the 6th graders at Washington Elementary to sing “The Greatest Love of All” for our graduation. I remember standing on that little stage in our caf-a-gym-atorium belting out, “because the gre-a-test love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself; it is the gre-a-test love of all.” I remember that like it was yesterday. I remember the message of that song too, it sank in and made a difference in me.

Then in 7th grade I distinctly remember walking the few blocks from our house to the 5th South record store with my best friend and next door neighbor Melanie Allen. She had saved her allowance so she could buy Whitney’s album (the one pictured above). We thought we were so cool going to the record store by ourselves to actually buy music. We purchased Whitney, came straight home, peeled the plastic wrapper off, slipped that big, shiny, black vinyl disc from it’s jacket and played those 80’s classics over and over and over again on Melanie’s new stereo. We learned every word of every song on that album in no time.

Then there was this album.

I frequently babysat for a family in my ward, the Wistison’s. I remember Sister Wistison’s name was Jill and they had a darling little girl named Whitney. They also had the CD “Whitney.” I loved babysitting for the Wistison’s because every time I would go over there I would whip out this CD, turn it on loud (they had a great sound system) and dance around with the kids while sing my guts out (because little kids don’t care if you look ridiculous)…

“Somebody who... Somebody who... somebody who loves me...
Somebody who... Somebody who... to hold me in his arms...”

Then I would go home and try to figure out how I could get my hair that big.

Then there was this album…basically the soundtrack to my freshman year at collage.

Everybody had The Bodyguard soundtrack and everybody was trying their darnedest to sing along with Whitney…

“And I-ee-I will always love you-oooooo.”

We butchered the poor song every time, but it was still fun to try and sing along. I think that song represented pretty much everyone’s romances of 1992-93. I know Mike and I listened to the song together plenty of times.

Although I was as fond of “I Will Always Love You” as everybody else, my personal favorite on this soundtrack was “I’m Every Women.”  I cleaned houses to earn a little extra cash in collage. I used to bring my Walkman with me along with my Bodyguard CD. When it was time to clean the bathrooms (my least favorite chore of all time) I would just blast Whitney…

“I’m every women, it’s all in meeeeee. Anything you want done baby, I’ll do it naturally.”

Eventually those bathrooms would end up shining like the top of the Chrysler building. Whitney got me through.

It’s absolutely heartbreaking to me what happened to Whitney. She was a treasure and a gift.

A few months ago I stayed up late one night watching one after another of Whitney performances on Youtube. I stumbled across this one and was completely mesmerized. She is truly amazing…