Scrapbooking the Dearly Beloved

We all have those special musical icons in our life whose music becomes the soundtrack our memories playback on. A song for every time and place, decade or direction we've taken; there are lyrics galore that we can identify with. Being a child of the eighties with the graduation year of 1999, it's no wonder I was instilled with a deep purple passion from the very start~ my first crush and favorite artist has always been the legendary Prince.

When the news broke last week of his death, I mourned the loss of a man who contributed countless hits to generations of listeners. Whether he was rocking a pop song or soulfully infusing a ballad with his sensuality, he clearly exhibited a genius approach to capturing the feelings of anyone, be they in love, following a loved one, or getting into the mood for some lovemaking. Or just dressing up in diamonds and pearls for a night of dancing! Prince also produced some of the most popular songs of my generation, including hits by Sinead O'Connor, Chaka Khan, and "Appolonia" of course! 
It wasn't just the music that kept Prince at the top of my World's Best... list. He seems like such a delicate little man, and his high heeled boots were killer (and probably my size). Prince is the only man I knew of to boast a G-string... thanks to my mom's best friend who had a life sized poster of him in little else hanging in her bathroom hahaha. Men were not advised to use her private pooper!  And he inspired many a pixie cut to be sure. But I think what is really inspiring in this day and age is that he seemed to just be a genuinely niceish person. Is it any wonder how much I love the color purple?

It was only a few years ago that my mom was able to fulfill her countlessly uttered promise to take me to see this beautiful man live on stage... it was completely surreal! Did I scream running to the stage when he sang Purple Rain to dance in the confetti falling from the ceiling? You know I did! AND I'm pretty sure he looked at me! Probably because I was crying and laughing with my hands stretched out towards him while hysterically crooning (I swear, I wasn't the only one doing this) lol.
 Did I love the white caftan hat he wore the entire concert? No, but I did adore the idea of his 'do beneath being nice and straight- turns out he was playing a later "cooler" concert in Seattle that night after his purple and gold confetti exit from the Tacoma Dome. And did I want that magical evening of bass, pop, an rockin' out to end? No, because, that guitar was absolutely incredible to hear wailing away a mere 100 yards away. However, I was VERY glad when the lights turned on and we were able to locate my missing phone within the hour :-) translation: no pictures
I am ecstatic to have those memories to share with my mom now that he is gone... and, with my heart too sad to do more than post pics of me posing with my 4th birthday's custom Prince cake on facebook and plan a night of Prince karaoke, I have only been admiring the creative endeavors of other mourners. I only wish I could say I had made one of these gorgeous layouts...

You know, I think it was only fitting that the announcement of the release of the next postal stamps being issued, made this same sorrow filled day, will include another beloved fixture in my life, Mount Rainier. And when I saw that the proposed image just happens to include a heavenly purple hue and majestic swirls of what I'll think of and call diamonds, I knew that a few of these stamps will need to be included when I finally do commit my loss to paper.
Scrapbooking our loved one's can be such a loving way to remember them, as well as one of the most difficult undertakings in the world of scrap. One of the reasons I've found not to complete (or agonize over such incompleteness) my scrapbook albums has been that, when the album is done, the event/year/trip is really over. And so, I will not rush into this memorial page honoring an influential individual, and instead I will "play in the sunshine," have some "starfish and coffee", and yes, "party like it's 1999."