52 Weeks

During the week between Christmas and New Year's, one year ago, I wrote a little story. At the time I called it The Boy. It seemed like a nice little story, and I loved writing it. It was about Michael Jackson, the story of his life, written like a fairy tale.

In January, I thought it might be a book that I could send to his children. I enjoyed editing, and finding the perfect word or phrase, and cutting unnecessary parts out.

In February, I sent the story to Michael's mother, and his children.

In March, I saw a beautiful painting of Michael's Giving Tree on facebook, and asked the artist if she would be interested in illustrating a picture book. She said yes.

During April, we got to know each other by email and discussed possible pictures. The name of the story had changed to Ever After.

In May, Mimi sent me the first illustration, Baby Michael. I had chosen a printer, applied for an ISBN number, reserved a domain name and a few other administrative tasks. We decided to market and distribute the books ourselves, so that we could donate 20% of the selling price to charity in Michael's name.

In June, Mimi took a leave of absence from her job to work on the illustrations. We had given ourselves a deadline. We wanted to take the finished book to Neverland on Michael's birthday.

In July, Mimi did not go back to her job. She continued working full-time on the illustrations. The last picture was finished on July 30.

In August, we got the pictures and text layout to the printer. Chose colors for the the text pages, finalized the cover. Saw the proofs, and approved them. We launched our website by tagging one of the illustrations to 50 friends on facebook. The pre-orders started to come in.

The books were received on September 22, a bit late for Michael's birthday, but we were thrilled. I sent the first 4 books to Prince, Paris, Blanket and Katherine. We had pre-orders for about 200 books, so I was busy mailing them out.

October, November, December - orders continue to come in through our website, as people hear about the book. I have mailed them all myself, and emailed all the wonderful people who have ordered. As of today, December 29, we have sent out over 600 books to people all over the world, and have donated $1,320 to children's charities in Michael's name.

When I wrote the story in my little notebook one year ago, I never imagined the changes it would bring to my life, and hopefully, to the lives of many other people, in such a short time.

Thank you God, and thank you Michael

L.O.V.E. Brenda - December 29, 2010

Why I Love Michael Jackson

I love him because he never stopped doing what he believed he was meant to do. Criticism and judgement from others hurt him, but did not make him waver in what he knew to be true about himself and why he was here. He wanted to make a difference and he did. He wanted to be remembered forever and he will be. I admire him because he accomplished his dreams in spite of his shyness, dislike of his appearance, lack of a childhood. He did not use these as excuses to not follow his heart. I love him because of his love of children, his own childlike innocence and love of fun. He inspires me because he was always expanding his thinking about what was possible, eager to learn new things, willing to work hard to make things happen, and not afraid to be different.

I love the messages in his lyrics, the way he sang and danced with passion and the way he connected with his fans. Whatever people think or say about him they can never say that he wasted his 50 years. I do not believe in death and I know he chose the perfect time to leave this world. I am happy that a new generation of the children he wanted to help is now learning about him. I have been inspired by his example to live and enjoy every day, say yes to life and make a difference in whatever way is mine to do.

Brenda Jenkyns

October 17, 2009

The Dream

This is a dream I had sometime in the summer of 2009. I didn't take note of the date because at the time I did not realize it's meaning or significance.

In this dream, Michael had come to my house to hang out and relax and be a regular person for the day. I don't remember what we did but I remember being amazed at what a regular person he was. I wanted to be sure that he experienced a normal day with no fanfare.

At one point there were children all around, playing. I started to think that the children might want something to drink. I was in the kitchen and said to Michael, "What would the kids like to drink?" I was looking in the fridge, "We have milk, water, juice...." I looked over at Michael who was standing at the sink with his back to me. He had a big plastic jug and was filling it up with water and mixing it with a frozen can of some kind of juice, stirring it with a big wooden spoon. He gave me a thumbs up with his right hand over his shoulder to tell me he had it under control.

Later on, when it was time for Michael to leave, I wanted to get a picture taken with him. He agreed, but I suddenly realized that he wanted to be a regular person for the day, so I did not get the picture taken. I felt bad that I had acted like he was a star instead of a person.

It was weeks later when I realized that the dream was a message to me. I wanted to do something to make a difference, something to help children but I didn't know what it was they needed. Michael already knew what they needed and he was telling me that he had it under control, and if I followed his lead, he will show me what they need. The house we were in was the house I grew up in, and we had juice made in a plastic jug just the way Michael was making it. I think he was saying that what children need is good old fashioned homes with lots of love and traditions.

When I went to see This Is It, he did a thumbs up to one of his musicians, just the way he did in my dream. I got shivers at that moment and I knew it was a message to tell me that it really was Michael in my dream. (Thumbs up is not a gesture used in my family or my life at all, and I did not know that Michael ever did it either.)

Since then, Michael has indeed shown me the way that I can be of service to the children of the world and I have tried to follow through as best I can, and not hold back. It has been the most rewarding time of my life, and I am forever grateful to him for being there for all of us.