Know what's weird? When the loss of a celebrity, that you've never met, feels personal. The last time I felt like this, with this scenario, was back when Natasha Richardson died back in 2009. It was sudden, it was like a punch to the chest. I grieved, I mourned, I moved on. I still get a tear in my eye when I watch her media with her in it.
This one, Dolly Parton, this loss feels greater. Not that Natasha wasn't, she was to me, but Dolly was someone that everyone adored here in the US. She crossed political spectrums, races, genders, creeds. She loved and gave as much as she possibly could and tried to see the best in everyone she ever came into contact. She was the one that could unite people instead of separate them. She was the moral compass in our current society that has been filled with depravity that so many are willing to ignore otherwise.
It feels heavy, like an ache, and I can't listen to "I Will Always Love You" without crying. Though, I don't think she would have wanted to go any other way. Nothing drawn out, nothing where others would see her actively degrade. It just feels like a family member. Which is weird, but really she was like family to all.
Thank you, Dolly, for all the good you brought to this world, especially during such a time of uncertainty.
You traded in your butterfly wings for angel ones.