My BFF

I lost a very dear friend last week. Although I had never personally met her, she was there at just about every significant milestone of my life from 14-23 years old…that’s a lot of living. And a lot of drama…and trauma…and teenage angst. If I could make my life during that time into a very long mini-series, her music would be the soundtrack. How poetic…she was the soundtrack of my teenage years. And oddly enough, she was the soundtrack of my LDS mission. Allow me to elaborate…

I met Whitney Houston in middle school and we quickly became BFFs. I listened to her “cassette” constantly. She got me dressed and off to school in the mornings, provided fabulous company in the car (we were so awesome singing our lungs out together…she made me sound GOOD!), was the backdrop to many conversations with my other BFF Chandra, made my middle school home economics teacher cry every time she talked about or heard “The Greatest Love”(which oddly enough I remember her playing more than once in home ec…I’m sure she had her reasons). I lip synched to her soulful music for HOURS down in my bedroom. When it came time to try out for the freshman pom squad at school, she was the music I auditioned to. And I made it! The following year our audition music for poms was from the Grease 2 soundtrack and ironically I didn’t make the team that year. I was nothing without the power of Whitney.

Then came high school…and her next album. Oh the loves found and lost to that music. “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”…I can’t tell you how many tears were shed, how many boys were analyzed, how many teenage relationships dissected with that album as the background. And once again she worked her magic when I auditioned for the high school “Highlanders” squad to one of her songs…and made it! Whitney and I were unstoppable. We danced, we sang more duets in the car, we lip synched, and we were happy. Whitney had a song for everything! She knew how to say it best.

When I was in my early 20’s, I attended one of her concerts in Boston. It was amazing! I was just as enamored with her then as I had been in high school. Her voice was truly unlike anything I had ever heard…it was beautiful. And she still could capture my moods better than anyone. We were quite a team.

From 1 992-1994, I was serving a full time mission for the LDS church in Denmark and the movie “The Bodyguard” had just been released. Danes were just as crazy about Whitney as I was and I heard the soundtrack to that movie EVERYWHERE we went…member’s homes, shopping centers, cars, grocery stores…without consciously making an effort, I came home knowing most of the words to every song on the soundtrack! So she even provided a little background music for my mission. Can’t say many music artists have done that!

And so I was truly heartbroken to hear of her tragic passing! I have loved her music but truly was so disappointed in the direction her life took the last years of her life. I had admired and respected her so much as a teenager that it was disheartening to see her become a victim of alcohol and drugs. My heart aches for her family and what they must be experiencing right now. But Whitney will continue to sing… This afternoon I broke out my “Whitney’s Greatest Hits” CD and sang all her love songs to my baby while we were cleaning up and hanging out. I took her “fast” tracks CD in the car to pick up the kids from school and played it so loud that Hannah finally asked if I could turn it down. And when my children need that background music to celebrate their first kiss or first heartbreak or need a peppy song to audition for the dance squad to, Whitney will be there. That’s the magic of what she has left behind.

B/F/F Whitney!