Reid My Mind

Prince

Last week soon after arriving home for lunch, while seated at the island in our kitchen, my wife Marlett read a text message out loud; Prince died?

Hearing this as a question while making myself a cup of tea I responded, Prince who? As if there was anyone else!

The rest of the conversation was probably repeated thousands of times all over the world. Knowing that Twitter and the internet in general kill random celebrities pretty frequently, we looked for multiple sources to confirm. That was about the time I received a notification on my phone from the Tune In app alerting me that CNN was covering the death of the legendary musician.

Marlett and I both wondered aloud about the reason behind his death. We talked about how it really hurts losing artists from our generation. These sorts of conversations can easily turn morbid where we begin to wonder about our own deaths. In fact, this seems to be where so many people focus – the death. Since his passing, I’ve seen a lot of social media focused on warning us all to get our health checked. Posts encouraging various artists of our generation to do the same.

I get that. We should be doing the best we can to take care of ourselves In fact, [apple crunch] I’m trying to eat my fruit and vegetables, but even those I’m told aren’t always that good for me… you know the pesticides and bio engineering…

Something about that response though; to the death of an artist who by all accounts was a pretty health conscious person. I believe a vegetarian, no drugs or alcohol… It feels sometimes as though we blame the person for their own illness or death…

I know I felt that when I went through my second cancer… The first of which I was born with so I guess no one could blame me…  The pseudo health experts in my life who I personally witnessed consume fried, fatty foods followed by large amounts of alcohol and engage in other activities that some may believe to be associated with an unhealthy lifestyle  all of a sudden want to share tips on what I should consider in order to prevent cancer. Maybe I should have explained the cancer was caused by the radiation received to stop the tumors I had as a baby, but instead, I thanked them for their concern.

Marlett went back to work shortly after learning of Prince’s death. Working at home on days like this has some advantages; I can play my music as loud as I choose without bothering anyone. Of course, it was an all Prince Playlist.

In general, I think I have a healthy outlook on death. I know I’m not scared of it for myself… that would truly be a waste of my time. It will happen eventually, and God forbid something happens in the not so distant future… no, I did not prophesize my own death.

Death, as I explained to my youngest daughter when she came home from school, is sad for those of us who remain. Those who pass on have no control of that. I just hope for them that they had a chance to do what they enjoyed and make an impact on someone. Prince definitely did that.

Think about all of the energy that Prince put into making and performing that music. That energy is felt each time you hear a song,

watch a performance, well; There is Graffiti Bridge… I’m just saying’… too soon?

I like to think that now in spirit form Prince gets some sort of return on that energy he put out into the world. That’s a lot of energy still being generated…Just put on your favorite Prince Song;

Am I the only one who:

• Thinks they have the meanest Let’s go Crazy air guitar solo?
• Almost suffered an aneurism trying to imitate a Prince falsetto?
• Attempted one of Prince’s dance moves and bust your knee, split your pants or worse fellas?

By all means, let’s be mindful of our individual health. And while we are doing that, celebrate the life of Prince and all those artists we love so much. Personally, I’m going to keep listening, dancing, and working on my falsetto and say thank you for the music which will live on!