Michael Jackson is dead. Dead!

And while my three year old will not understand the relevance of that, my husband and I sat at home last night repeatedly saying to ourselves, “Wow!”

I’m not sure why it hit harder than when any other celebrity dies. These things don’t usually phase me. I mean, I don’t know these people personally. Though I can sympathize for the family, it usually never hits home for me.

But, this one did for some reason. It might be because he was actually a part of my childhood. I have plenty of Michael Jackson related memories.

So, we busted out the Guitar Hero and played Beat It as our small little way of holding a tribute. Baby girl rocked out on the drums and I couldn’t help but stare at her thinking, “She’ll never know of him.” Well, she’ll know of him through his music and such, but she’ll never really understand like we did. It’s just like how I don’t really relate to Elvis, though my parents can. Get it?

Then I got to more thinking. How in the world will I ever explain death to her? Obviously, this is a milestone we will reach one day. But, to be honest, I have no idea what I’ll say to her at that moment.

And under what circumstances will she first learn what death is? Will it be because our fish died? Or will it be because of a close family member? I shudder at the thought.

More so, if that were to be the case, how will I be acting? How horrible will it be for me to have to mourn and grieve and also have to provide her with this life lesson?

Where’s that freaking manual that tells you how to deal with all these situations???!!!

I feel like I need to arm myself with a list of standard responses for those hard questions.

I cannot wrap my head around it all just yet. I suppose that’s fine actually. I doubt you can ever truly prepare for these things.