Author: madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

(NOTE-The reason I’m posting this a year later is because I never ended up doing on close to the actual date. I admit, I was kind of flustered.)

Sure, yeah, it’s been a year.

But somehow, it feels  like yesterday.

David Bowie, for me at least, was one of the saddest deaths in 2016. He just meant so much to me and was a pretty big part of my life. Of course, it’s pretty obvious that I wasn’t born in the 70’s or 80’s, but even so, I grew up with him. In fact, one of my first memories (I consider it to be around my second memory) involved David Bowie.

All I know about it are these things:

-I was in the car

-My whole family was with me

-“Kooks” was playing

I remember listening to “Kooks” a lot when I was little. Though it isn’t one of his most famous songs, it is definitely high up on my “Nostalgic Childhood Songs” list. And that’s just the beginning. I’ve heard so many Bowie songs in my life, and a huge number of them have some sort of sentimental value for me. For instance, I remember having a phase when I was about eight where all I wanted to hear was “Changes”. My dad also showed me live videos of David Bowie performing it, and I always enjoyed it. I remember when I was nine, when my family stayed in Mexico for three weeks, going to sleep and listening to “Space Oddity” on my brother’s iPod (then hearing another version on the car ride from the airport). I remember hearing “Blackstar” in the car for the first time. I was really weirded out at the time, and the fact that it was nighttime enhanced that. There are so many more, but…

….now we come to January 11, 2016.

It was destined to be like any other drab Monday. I got in the car, and I waited for my brother and dad to follow. They did, and then my dad broke the news.

I remember a feeling of total speechlessness and shock. I don’t recall if I said anything or not, but then we pulled out of the garage, and my dad turned on “Lazarus”. We listened to David Bowie the whole ride to school.

At school, my best friend and I, who share a love of Bowie, made a memorial on a whiteboard. It was shaped like a tombstone, and it read:

R.I.P. David Bowie

There was never a better king of the universe.

{We signed our names here}

Then, we wrote “WHY” a bunch of times around the tombstone. Sadly the memorial was later erased for a math class. *hisssssss*

I’ve hinted multiple times this year that I couldn’t get over it. I doubt I ever will. But I will always remember him. We all will. He changed the world in such a wonderful way, and gave us the beauty of his heart, mind, and soul in music. One thing’s for sure, though…

I hope you’re having a wonderful time far above the world, Starman. Goodnight.