Farewell, Whitney

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (b. August 9, 1963 -- d. February 11, 2012)

Drugs. Sometimes, I think they all need to be legal except then we don't know how to treat people who can't stop. If we learn nothing else from Whitney Houston's tragic experience, I hope that we'll remember that drugs will also destroy the voice. I don't recall reading about this nightmarish aftermath in any drug pamphlet. You will always be our World's Diva! Thanks for the songs, movies, and memories you've given us.

Random samples (favorite memories):

Jeff, our high school classmate, who played bass clarinet and went to see your "Moment of Truth Tour" on September 18, 1987, at the Frank Erwin Center (thanks, Wikipedia)! He wore your concert T-shirt to school the next day with the cover from the "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" album and I was so jealous that he got to go to your Sold Out show!

• Star Spangled Banner at Superbowl
• high-school dances and VH-1 there would always be at least one Whitney song (slow and fast)
• in middle school and high school, sitting in my room listening to your debut album for hours on end and dreaming about the day I'd meet Mr. Saving All My Love For You; and/or, us going on tour 
• going over to the neighbor's house to babysit and seeing your debut album in their record collection and feeling such joy that they love you, too
• The Welcome Home Heroes concert on VHS (not available on DVD or BluRay)
• buying your VHS videos from the late 80s and early 90s and watching them all again without needing VH-1. Yours were the first videos I ever bought.
• watching Waiting to Exhale over and over again
• singing the karaoke versions of "I Believe in You and Me" and "I Will Always Love You" to my husband in Seattle when we first started dating
• Hubby buying me my first karaoke machine and buying your songs to sing along at home

Please, comment on your own favorite Whitney memories (no haters)! Thanks!