Whitney - How Do You Say Goodbye?

How do you say goodbye to someone who had such a huge influence in your life? I'm not talking like the guidance of a parent or loved one, but someone who when you look back at moments in your life, their persona, their image, their song played a part in almost all of those times. I was just starting to come out to myself, my family and friends when Whitney Houston took the Billboard music charts by storm. I was just finding my place on the dance floor of gay bars for the very first time, when Whitney's voice rang out the joy of wanting to dance with somebody. I was just having my first heart break when she soulfully repeated that I will always love you. She has always been there!

Whitney's upbeat songs were anthems for the times. Her ballads pulled on the heart strings of our souls. And at a time of great fear as our country was poised for war, her rendition of our national anthem set the resolve our country needed to face the unknown future.

How do you say goodbye to someone whose impact on the music industry forged the path for so many young women who could only dream to reach the pinnacle at which Whitney had achieved. In her career she was nominated for 562 various awards and of those nominations, she won 415. Those are some odds that even Vegas wouldn't bet upon! She had four #1 albums and eleven #1 songs. She was a true performer who could at many times make you feel like you were attending a church service. Not due to religious undertones, although her vocal training started in a church choir, but that as she sang, your heart connected to something higher and I often found myself with an arm raised and a foot tapping.




How do you say goodbye to all of that? The answer my friend is that we don't. We cannot mourn the fact that there will be no more new songs, or no more "church". We hold on to the gift that was so graciously bestowed upon us and we treasure it. We remember and we honor it. Goodbye is to let go and we cannot ever do that.