Rest In Peace Whitney

I've always been a Whitney Houston fan.  I have these fantastic memories of my cousin C and I carrying around our little Fisher Price tape player with the attached microphone when were were somewhere around 5 years old, with our Whitney Houston cassette on constant rotation, belting out impromptu concerts for our extremely supportive family members (I can't even imagine how they sit through that once, let alone multiple times...).  Our personal favorite was "Greatest Love of All", which in hindsight is a fantastic song for little girls to be singing, and to this day I know every single word of the song:

I also used to play the records on my parents turn table all the time while I did my chores around the house.  I knew every song on her self titled debut album and the follow up album Whitney.  And then she actually did a pretty decent job acting too!  I loved The Bodyguard (I had the VHS tape and the cassette of the soundtrack...), and a little later on she played the fairy godmother in an updated version of Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and I still have that VHS tape on my movie shelf (note to self - find VHS player on craigslist).

 She was just such a huge part of  my childhood and I can't believe that she has passed away.  I spent pretty much all day yesterday watching her old music videos (I've always said the best thing to come out of the 80's was the music, the hair and fashion was just so wrong...) and tearing up a bit.  Although she had many publicized personal issues, she will forever hold a place in the heart of every child of the 80's as one of the best voices of her time, if not the best.  Quite a legacy to leave behind...