Just a couple of hours ago I was chatting with a friend who lives in Minnesota and she was the first to tell me that Prince has been discovered dead. This brings up so many emotions for me I hardly know where to begin. I can’t say I grew up listening to Prince because he’s only about two years older than I am. I discovered his music when I was in college. I guess he was around 21 at the time. I wasn’t a huge fan of Prince back then, but I grew to love his musical genius and I could relate to him. I loved the movies Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon. Both were classics for me.
In the couple of hours since they discovered the body of Prince I have heard the words “Prince is dead at 57″ more times than I care to count. People are stunned. Prince, gone so soon. So suddenly. Dead. Finished. For better or worse I don’t share those emotions. You see I live in a world where I found my 15 year old daughter’s bod, lifeless in her bed. So, “gone so soon” has a whole different meaning for me. They say he’s gone suddenly. Yeah. I know about gone suddenly. This morning I also heard about a female professional wrestler, Chyna who passed away unexpectedly. She was found in her bed at the age of 45. My friend asked me what is happening in 2016? Why are so many leaving so suddenly? David Bowie, Alan Rickman… I reminded her of Michael, Whitney, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix.. on and on and on. This is nothing new. We all expect to live into our 80s or 90s, I’m not sure why. It’s not promised to any of us. The “life expectancy” number is only an average, not a promise. People can and do go anywhere along the way from a few minutes old up until centenarians. I feel like I’m being a little cold, a little insensitive because I don’t share the sense of shock. I’m sure there will be deaths that will shock me in the future, but it’s going to take a lot. This just doesn’t shock me.
On the other hand, I know Prince is not dead. None of us dies. We simply transition. Prince wasn’t found in his bed this morning. His lifeless body was found. Prince had already left the building so to speak. He’s reunited with family and loved ones. He’s probably already seen Vanity who went just a couple of months ago (at the same age). Prince is doing just fine. We lost a musical genius before we were ready to let him go. We will mourn, but we mourn for us. Prince lives on. At least he left us his music and his films.
