Monday, June 20, 2005

What Makes a 9 Year-Old Do This?

So my dear old dad drove a truck from Houston to Utah to bring my brother and his family some furniture for their new house. I haven’t really lived at home since I graduated from high school, and I thought that I had removed any and all personal items from the “homestead”. But apparently, I had left a box of significant items.

Yesterday, my brother presented me with a box that contained some of my earliest relics: a couple of photo albums, some diplomas (eighth grade and the like), and a couple of journals.

Carefully folded and placed in one of the journals was a letter I had written to Michael Jackson on March 8, 1983. I was 9 years old.

Here is the letter in all its worshiping glory (original spelling and punctuation):

“3/8/83

Dearest M.J.,

I don’t know how to spell your name so I write it M.J. My Name Is Carrie Ann Oscarson. I know I’m pretty young, I’m 9 years old I’m in 3rd grade but I would like to meet you some day but I dowt I will. I have a best friend named Missy Mgee, she’s crazy about you to I let my mom read this letter she said you might like it, you may not even get this letter I don’t even know why I am doing this, I suppose it’s because I like you alot.

We have seven in our family and that’s only the kids.

I would like to come and visit you and Kathren Hetbern very but thats only a dream.

I think you are a very cute and sweet.

I would like you to write ME a letter!

I like you very, very, very much! I’d like it very much if I could come to your concert and see you, but that’s another dream. I have three dollars and I am going to buy a pin with your pitcher on it!
Now let’s talk about your songs! Now I can sing real good and dance not to brag or any thing. See if there’s any thing I missed about you, Missy ceaps me up to date on you sining something new or something. My favorite video is “Thriller”! My favorite song is: “Billy Jean” I guess. Now please remember to write me!!

Love, Love, Love,
Love, Love, Love,
Carrie

P.S. Here is a pitcher A Horses head.
P.S.S. I want to go on writin this letter for ever!”

Now let me comment on this letter a little. Did you notice my sophisticated punctuation? I had never before, nor since, written a fan letter. The thought had never even crossed my mind! What possessed me to write with such ardor? I remember so clearly how much I liked him.

I knew that this would be one of millions of letters and that he probably had people to read them FOR him. But I was trying to play the old sympathy card by saying I wanted to go to a concert but only had three dollars. And where did I get three dollars?

So interesting. You can view the letter below…and the sweet drawing of the “Horses head”. If you look close I tried to draw a ballerina, but chickened out and went for the horse instead.
whale detail 2
pg 1
pg 2
pg 3
pg 4
horse head detail
I’m kind of mad that my dad didn’t mail this like I asked him to, but then again…it’s awfully cute that I wrote a letter to Michael Jackson, and considering his behavior over the last, say…TWENTY YEARS, maybe my did was acting on some incredible foresight.

14 comments:

kacy faulconer said...

Utterly charming. Why, I wonder, a horse's head? Why not a whole body? The head is very good.

HOO said...

Well at least you were a normal child and knew who michael jackson was...at that age, the only michael jackson I knew was the talkshow host on AM 790 in LA. That's what happens when you're the oldest child of really conservative parents.

Suzie Petunia said...

Oh. My. Gosh. I always knew you were crazy when we were kids, but I guess I didn't know the extent of it. (OK I loved MJ, too...even if I WAS too scared to watch the entire Thriller video.) I'm glad dad didn't mail the letter after all.

Julie said...

Stationary with a whale on top $2.99.
Rare discovery of Hand Drawn Horse Head $4,500.
Having naked Missy Mgee, keep you up to date on his sining,
Priceless

Suzie Petunia said...

100% genuine LOL when I saw your new profile picture! Don't EVER change it. :)

Lisa M. said...

*Laughing*

Very funny. I have a simular letter, minus the artwork, written about the same time... to..ummm Dale Murphey?

YIPES.

Thank you Mom for never sending it.

*chuckle* Very sweet!

Melissa said...

I love this. everything about it. It is hilar.

I once had a roommate who told everyone at her elementary school that MJ had sent her one of his gloves.

kacy faulconer said...

My friend Jenna said in a letter in third grade that she wanted to sleep naked with John Oats' guitar strap, and was sent for a talk with a counselor. I'm glad your letter isn't disturbing like Jenna's.

JP said...

LOL!! I love those letters and LOVE to read Paige's letters now. SO entertaining!

and I'm w/ Kaycee...SOOO reminded me of The Godfather. And really, maybe MJ needed a bit more "godfather" in his life.

Oscarson Photography said...

care, i was two when ou did this. there are some phases of ya'll lives im kind of glad i wasnt totally 'there' for. even if dad had sent the letter, i think you would have been ok. MJ seems to prefer tiny boy toys more than little girls. im mean, liking little girls?... thats just sick.

Carly said...

I wonder if the horse's head would have triggered a "Godfather"esque panic attack from Michael Jackson? Had you seen the "Godfather?" This is precious, especially the part where you say you are a great singer and dancer--not to brag or anything. That was one of my favorite lines when I was 9, too.

Amy Lynn said...

I have now read this letter several times and I still laugh out loud every time. You are timeless and classic and I love you dearly!!

mo said...

Whose says that being a packrat doesn't have some advantages? What if one of us had thrown that stuff away years ago--think of the loss to the world. Love the horse head, too. One question, Michael Jackson and Katherine Hepburn? I'm trying to understand your 9 year old mind....

Hillary said...

This is very old, but I was drawn to it, so I hope you get my comment.
I wrote a fan letter to Michael J. Fox shortly after Back to the Future came out. Why I chose him, I don't know. I was never a huge fan. I got the address of his publicist from Bop magazine, so my letter, unfortunately, did get sent out.
I believe I expressed sorrow that if we ever did meet, I would be taller than him.
Hmmmm...