Cut Short

I was at Renee and Byron's wedding with my mom when I heard the news from her. "Whitney Houston died."

What? She died? I have been surprised at how much it has affected me. I have spent the last 2 days listening to her music, watching The Bodyguard, reflecting on memories from my childhood when I would listen to her for hours and image being able to sing like that.

The power.

I have always been amazed by her voice. That never changed. I really loved her and her music. I loved the way she made me feel when she sang. It is so surreal. Magic. It breaks my heart that someone with such a gift was exposed to such toxicity via Bobby Brown. I truly believe he destroyed her. Sure, she has accountability, but it just proves how powerful outside influences can be. Whitney was pure magic, innocence, wholesomeness...and then she met Bobby. It went downhill from there. We are all susceptible to negative influences in our lives. I pray that Emme surrounds herself with positive, loving, uplifting people. I pray that she is not lured to do the uplifting, because it is so much easier to drag someone down than it is to lift them up. I hope she will believe me about this. If you want to lift people up, become a therapist, that way it is with parameters, and manageable.

I am sad that Emme will not know her in the same way I did. I am so grateful to be taking Emme to Las Vegas to see Celine. It is a blessing to be able to share a moment like that with her. Celine is right up there with Whitney, and to watch her music bring so much joy to Emme, it is just priceless.

Last night, we were watching the Grammy Awards. Well, she was running around chasing the cat and I was getting educated on every single artist nominated through my friends on Facebook. I was so lost, and really only watching for the tributes to Whitney. So all of the sudden, Emme comes up to me and asks if I like her new forehead. I didn't really notice anything different, but I had that feeling so I asked her if she had cut her hair. She said no. She walked off and I finished up in the kitchen, then headed to the bedroom expecting to see her there. Instead, I found her in the bathroom, on the floor staring into the mirror, scissors in hand, a clump of hair on the floor and completely denying cutting it.

I am glad I caught her before she whacked off too much. I love the look on her face though. Complete guilt.