Monday, December 27, 2010

Discovering Neverland - Part 2

We walked passed his large beautiful pool and finally came upon his "main residence", which was guarded by security.  It didn't look like what I expected it to be.  It was no modern mansion...even though it was quite big; it resembled a cozy cottage. We walked a bit more trying to discover the special parts of Neverland (at this particular visit we had full access to almost everything). We came upon a beautiful little Train Station in which I like to call "the Bakery.” I automatically recognized the Peter Pan and Captain Hook mannequins up in the ceiling from the "Living With Michael Jackson" special.  It was unbelievable to actually see them in person finally.  Especially when you have seen this stuff before on TV...finding yourself standing in front of it staring at it with your own two bare eyes is simply magical.  I also noticed a very narrow flight of stairs, which we did not climb yet. There were other various mannequins as well a huge Christmas tree.  Someone told me that Michael loves to keep the whole Christmas theme year round.  Being a Christmas lover myself, I just loved the idea.
Photos: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
After being treated to a few sweets, we walked to the amusement park by foot since the little train wasn’t working at the moment.  While walking…we came upon a cute little playhouse.  We walked up to it and read a sign saying something along the lines of, “Paris and Prince's House: Daddy loves you very much."  Inside the playhouse were several bins of toys. I was surprised at how unguarded it all was, the entire ranch was a free-for-all.  We continued walking towards the rides and started to enjoy some of them. One of the best feelings is riding the rides at Neverland while Michael’s songs are being blasted in your ears. That was truly memorable and my favorite ride was the Sea Dragon. We rode all of them except for the little kiddy ones.
After a good hour of fun, we walked around some more and found the Giving Tree. It was absolutely amazing to see it especially knowing all of the history behind. Yet again, another magical experience being right in front of something so special that Michael keeps close to his heart.  We also spent a few minutes sitting on the same bridge that Michael has featured in his “Gone Too Soon” video.  While we sat there, we talked about how much we loved him and tried to take the whole experience in.
Photos: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
We got in the mood for snacks so we went back to the Train Station/Bakery.  This time we did go up the little swirly stairs. Up there we found boxes of brownies, a TV, a comfy couch, a sculpture of Michael and some children in a glass case, and several board games and video games lying around. The whole experience seemed surreal as we found a comfortable couch and made ourselves at home while enjoying some milk and cookies. After a while, we noticed that we had better get going so we wouldn’t miss our buses, which were scheduled to leave at 2:00 am. We started to get going…but just before we made our way out, my friend found a small white teddy bear sitting on the train all alone and gave it to me. By then, it had already become the most special stuffed animal to me.  Little did I know that in a matter of minutes, the bear would be in my arms, as I would be hugging Michael...
As we were walking across the dark road back our buses, we noticed the same black Bentley pass us by with something very sparkly inside. It had to be Michael. We started following it as it went to the Main Residence Garage. We stood around waiting…staring at the black car. After a few minutes of waiting, Michael finally came out but we kept our distance.  It all seemed to be so surreal…all of it in slow motion.  As Michael walked away, we heard him say, “I love you…” As we continued walking, we came upon Michael opening a door (to what we found out later was his office).  He saw us and stepped away from his door and…gestured for us to follow him. I stood there staring at him and not believing my eyes.  I noticed he had no shoes on; only white socks. I thought it was adorable. I had seen Michael a week earlier at the Celebration of Love but I had yet to see him up close and meet him. He began making more “come here" hand motions for me to come closer. I was finally going to meet Michael.
I walked up the little steps to his porch, he came closer, reached his hand over to me…grabbed my head and pressed it against his shoulder.  He then gave me the most beautiful, strongest, tightest, most loving hug I ever received in my whole life.  Resting my head on his shoulder was true bliss. Nothing that came out of my mouth was making any sense but I managed to tell him that I loved him and thanked him.  He was so adorable and so SHY…giggling.  He was so unbelievably shy; he was just mumbling, “I love you”. A few of my friends took turns hugging Michael but I didn’t notice anything. No one was in my vision at that moment except for Michael.

We slowly walked away from the porch and said our goodbye's to him and went back to our bus and gave one final look at the beautiful, golden, stunning gates of Neverland…in hopes of one day seeing it again and experiencing all of the magic again.  That night...I held the little white teddy bear tightly in my arms as I laid in bed and thanked God for the wonderful experience he had given me.

XoXo,
- Arus

11 comments:

  1. Absolutely amazing. I have questions!!

    1) Do you keep the little bear?

    2) These parties... were really for Michael? I feel these were really times for HIM to give his all to everyone, freely, openly.

    It just makes no sense how people turned all his generosity into the worst lie ever. How can this be? In what point people stop being grateful and start being mean?

    What a day for you, Arus, what a day!!!!

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  2. 1) YES...I swear until this day it still smells like "the bakery" at NL to me but that's probably just my imagination. LOL :)

    2) Pao...the experience Talin posted was a day created for Michael by his family and friends to "cheer" him up after the allegations and to let him know that he is not alone and we are there for him.

    The one I just posted was a charity event hosted by a popular radio station here in LA. It was a very expensive event and tickets could be bought, but they were in the thousands I believe. I was lucky enough to win these tickets to the "after-party".

    - Arus

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  3. Arus, fairytales do exist in reality, you lived one. Tears..
    -Irina

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  4. So beautiful. Thank you so much girls for sharing these unique stories. We were so blessed...
    -Ale

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  5. I'll neverforget this day Arus. :)Without a doubt, this day falls under "Best days of my life."

    I'm forever grateful I got to experience this magical day, many thanks to you. :)

    -Marissa

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  6. aaw, I loved to read your story, You made me cry a little while I was reading. Love to you Arus!!

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  7. Happy New Year guys!:)
    You guys have had some truly blessed times with Michael, it makes for wonderful reading!
    This bit made me well-up "He then gave me the most beautiful, strongest, tightest, most loving hug I ever received in my whole life. Resting my head on his shoulder was true bliss." If I were in your shoes, I don't think I would have been able to let go...*sigh*
    I don't know if you noticed at all, one of my best friends was lucky enough to get a hug from him, when he came to London.. and the one thing she said she'd never forget was how good he smelt like really strong vanilla musk lol....xxo

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  8. My friend hugged him once and said he smelled of fresh shower and make-up. I don't think I ever really concentrated on his scent except when he was drenched in his cologne (which was a lot of times in his last year). *sigh*

    - Arus

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  9. Arus,
    Thank you so much for sharing your story. I never had the opportunity to meet Michael, but after he passed I have grieved for him like my own brother.
    After reading your story, and your description of how he hugged you, I felt like I wanted or needed to share something with you. Maybe it's just something I just need to say to someone that did embrace him. The night after he passed away, I had a dream. In the dream, I was sobbing and grieving for Micheal and then all of a sudden, there he was in front of me. He was so beautiful, his face was shining and he had on a beautiful royal blue sparkling jacket trimmed in gold. He did EXACTLY what you described. He grabbed me and held my head to his chest hugging me so tightly that I could feel the roughness of that sparkling jacket on my cheek. Then he leaned his head close to me and whispered in my ear, "don't cry for me, I am free." Then I just woke up. I could actually feel on my face where it had been pressed into the jacket for the rest of that entire day. It was so profound and so real I can't even begin to explain it. Reading your description of what his hugs were like in life matched exactly to what I had experienced in my dream and it took my breath away honestly. That dream meant alot to me and I just felt like I should share it for some reason. I hope no one minds.

    - Sandie

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  10. Aw, Sandie. :(

    What a beautiful dream that was. I don't mind you sharing. Dreams like that have true meaning to me and I wholeheartly believe there is something behind them.

    - Arus

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  11. Arus,

    Thank you so much for embracing both me and my experience. The dream was truly a great comfort to me. I still grieve for Michael, and I honestly don't think that will ever go away. However, I feel without a shadow of a doubt that he is today in paradise and that is a great comfort. He has simply returned to the bliss from which he came and we will see him again.

    -Sandie

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