Life, Silva style!!: Happy Birthday Michael!

You know how I've talked about having grown up in the 80's, right? And I always talk of music from the 80's. Well, you could not grow up during those years without being IN LOVE with Michael Jackson and his music!

Well, whether it was coincidence or not, I'll never know, but my husband and I were talking this past Saturday night and I played this youtube video for him:

And I got the goosebumps. And I actually felt myself choke up! True story!! This video was the promo played all over our area to announce THE CONCERT of the year!

The one. The only...... Michael Jackson! And he was going to perform at McNichols Arena in Denver on March 24, 1988!

And I got to go!

I really did!! And it was a huge event in my life. I imagine going to a Michael Jackson concert would be huge in most anyone's life, especially a fan such as myself. I had never in my life been to any concert before that and I'll tell you what: I am so glad that his concert was my first. If I had to describe that night in one word....I guess the only word I can think of is MAGIC. I remember I went with my friend Melissa and we could hardly contain our excitement as we drove from a small town in Nebraska to Denver. We played the Michael Jackson cassette all the way there (: It wouldn't have made much difference if we had played the radio instead, because back then, you couldn't turn a radio on without hearing one of his songs playing.

The second we pulled onto I-25 heading South, we instantly knew that the majority of the traffic was headed to McNichols Arena too. It was bottle-necked all the way from Cheyenne, Wyoming to the arena! I was driving, and right after we got to the Del Camino exit on I-25, ALL of the cars before me slammed on their brakes. I chose to fly onto the grassy median going 70+ MPH rather than crashing into all 5 million cars in front of us. That was pretty scary!! But we regained our composure within 5 minutes. I mean....COME ON!!....We were on our way to Denver with coveted Michael Jackson tickets in our purse!!.....do you really think almost dying was going to dampen our spirits??!!

As we were approaching the arena, we could already see the line of people to get in was literally 4 miles long! I was shocked at how quickly the line moved along. Before we knew it, we were at our assigned seats. We actually had very good seats! There was a "standing room only" area directly in front of the stage, and then the seats started. Our seats were right in the middle of the 4th row. Right in front of the stage!

I'll never, ever forget the way the stage was completely dark as all of the audience was anxiously awaiting Michael to come out on stage.

Suddenly, Michael appeared!!.......Well, sort of. All you could see were his sequined socks and glove. And he was dancing on stage! I could not believe that I was THERE! It was a surreal moment, that's for sure.

Melissa hugged me when the lights came on because he was right in front of us!! And then we started crying because well,......it was just so emotional being there! I really felt bad for the people that were so overcome with emotion at the moment the lights came on that they FAINTED! That's right! Paramedics spent the whole night wading through the crowds to rescue people that had fainted at seeing their idol. Can you imagine??!! A once-in-a-lifetime moment that literally takes your breath away and you faint! Unbelievable. But it happened.

Melissa and I didn't faint. No way!! We were in awe the whole night. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take cameras into the arena, so that is why I have no pictures of that night. But I have very vivid memories that will last me forever. I treasured my ticket stub and the T-shirt I bought.

I was 22 years old at the time and I know I've said it many times.....I love the era I grew up in. I am so lucky! I really wouldn't trade it for any other era in the world. We had the best hair styles...well, maybe not. But at the time, we sure thought so! (:

Ok...~~we definitely had the best fashion~~! Never mind... (:

But something we did have was a little boy from Gary, Indiana who later became known as the King of Pop. Because he was, IS, and most likely, will remain. His music literally changed the world.

Wanna know something else? We had Michael Jackson on MTV every day!! How can you beat that??!! I'm sure you all remember this classic: (Ok, all of his music is classic!), but this song will forever be very special to our generation:

Well, as I said at the beginning of this post, I played the promo for my husband on Saturday and thought to myself that I really needed to post of my magical night many years ago. Today happens to be Michael Jackson's birthday, so I thought it appropriate to post it today.