Remembering Elvis

If you haven't already heard on the news, today is the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. I remember how shocking it was to find out that one of the most famous entertainers of that time had died. I was 18 years old at the time and had been an Elvis fan for as long as I could remember. My older sister and I had a lot of his records and we could sing every song on them, and we had posters on our bedroom walls, and we loved watching all those Elvis movies when they came on TV. Back then, it was very important to know when the movie was coming on TV because there was no such thing as a VCR or DVR to record it and watch it later. And I remember that one time my mother found out that he was coming to our city to do a concert and she went out and splurged bigtime on those $10 tickets! I mean, we thought ten dollars for a ticket was so expensive, but so worth it to see The King. That was so sweet of my mom because she wasn't a fan but she knew how much it meant to us and she took us to the concert.

Yes, I was an Elvis fan, but not a big enough fan to go to Memphis today with all those thousands of people. When I watch those old Elvis movies today, they seem so silly to me. And now I understand things about his life that I didn't understand as a child. But I'll always have fond memories of him and the fact that I got to see him in person.