My Ode to Whitney Houston

My 4th grade class snickered when we heard over the intercom, "Please send Whitney to the office, he will be leaving now."  As a 6th grader, I remember waiting for my parents to pick me up from the Almaden public library.  When my mother called to say she would be late, the clerk hung up the phone, not realizing I was within earshot, snarkily remarked, "Whitney.  What kind of a name is that?"  In high school, there were the dances, when people would ask me my name, "Whitney."  "Wendy?".  "No, Whitney." I'd  whisper-shout in the boy's ear.

I probably won't ever forget "I Will Always Love You" from The Bodyguard, one of the most romantic films ever.  I especially won't forget that because of Whitney Houston, my name became a real name.  After she catapulted to stardom, it was no longer, "What kind of name is that?", but rather people accidentally introducing me as "Whitney Houston."  That's the kind of name. I. have. I'd think.

Our names are our identity, our who we are.  After initially feeling nothing at her death, I now find myself grieving, even weeping a little. 

Whitney Houston gave my name a face.

With her death, a little piece of me -- Whitney Johnson -- has died inside.

Comments

[Thabo Hermanus]

Whitney, this makes me comfortable to tell you my sequence of events this morning! A friend in New York sent me a WhatsApp message, and I was up early, so being writing day (for my Blog), I came to my desk to verify what was going on. The first tweet I saw was yours, had nothing to do with Whitney Houston, but was about Whitney G. Wilkerson's post. That really played with my mind as I only knew two Whitney's (you included) and as one passes, another one entered.

Well, I have always had a soft spot for Whitney Houston and before my regular Blog post today, I posted about her, given what talent she had and how she achieved with it.

Thanks for creating the room for me to share my "weird morning"...

[amy jo]

I think not so much as a part of you has died, but the part that helped you accept your name is no longer needed. She was an amazing singer. I have always been saddened that she was not able to overcome those addictions, and that she was introduced to them and felt she needed them in the first place.