I didn’t just listen to them—

I grew up with them.

The Jackson 5

wasn’t just music in the background—

it was a thread running through my life,

from childhood into everything I would become.

And Michael Jackson—

he wasn’t just a voice.

He was a presence.

A constant.

A mirror of time moving forward

while I was trying to understand my own.

I watched them rise,

watched the family evolve,

watched the world change around them—

and without realizing it,

I was changing too.

Their music didn’t just play—

it stayed.

It stayed in the rooms I lived in,

in the moments I didn’t have words for,

in the parts of me that were still forming.

And then… time kept going.

Joseph Jackson passed.

Later, Tito Jackson too.

And each time, it wasn’t just news—

it felt like something personal

quietly slipping away.

But nothing prepared me for Michael.

Fifty.

He was only fifty.

And when he died,

it didn’t feel distant—

it felt immediate.

Like something inside my timeline

just… stopped.

Because how do you process the loss

of someone who was always there?

Not in your life directly—

but in your life experience.

He was part of my beginning,

my middle—

and I thought he’d always be there

somewhere ahead.

And suddenly… he wasn’t.

And what I realized—

through the tears,

through the memories,

through watching it all again—

is that I wasn’t just grieving him.

I was grieving

a version of life

that felt different.

A version of me

that existed when his voice

was still moving forward in time.

But maybe…

nothing is really lost.

Maybe it’s all still here—

just carried differently now.

In memory.

In feeling.

In the way a song can still open everything

all at once.

I didn’t just watch their story.

I lived alongside it.

And somehow…

it’s still living in me.

Thank you Michael

Thank you Jackson 5

Thank you Joseph

Thank you Katherine

Thank you Jackson Family

Thank you Motown

Thank you Bubbles and all the animals

Thank you Bill Bray

Thank you to the fans of Michael and The Jackson 5

Emily Iannielli