"To me, she's royalty." Carrie Fisher - 1956-2016

I think I'd like to start off at the beginning... a long time ago, in a galaxy far away... I can remember my first film I ever truly remember watching, STAR WARS. I remember taking those first steps onto Han Solo's ship with Ben Kenobi and just being so excited to experience the adventures with them as they set off to find the Princess and defeat the Empire. I owned every toy I could possibly manipulate my parents into buying for me, and spent countless nights recreating iconic moments with myself in the mix. Yes, no shame here, I grew up a STAR WARS fanatic, and 'til this day, I am proud to be one!

So it was with a heavy heart that I had to learn of the now fatal heart-attack of my beloved Princess Leia Organa, Carrie Fisher. I remember in those moments after hearing that her also now passed mother, Debbie Reynolds saying that Carrie was in "stable condition", I felt a sense of relief for Carrie. Then waking up the next day to news that she passed away hitting me like a ton of bricks, I just felt this sense of loss. I know it's hard to explain, I didn't know her personally, I never had the privilege of meeting her in person, yet here I was overcome with grief for a person I basically grew up idolizing for not only her iconic character, but also for her overwhelming bravery in her openness regarding mental illness, and her fight against it.

Her death also prompted me to take a look back at every other iconic figure I've grown up with passing away over the years. I will never again hear a new Michael Jackson song, nor will I ever have the chance to hear the amazing Whitney Houston's stunning vocals. I will never see a new Dennis Hopper film, or a Philip Seymour-Hoffman film, nor will I see Prince or David Bowie perform... And now, I'll never see the amazing Leia Organa-Solo beyond Episode VIII. These death's may seem trivial to some as they are just celebrities. And while most of them are, and just mean little to us, it's the ones we grew up with, the ones that influenced our lives as we evolved, as we changed, as we became men and women, its these iconic figures that help shape us.

I will miss Carrie Fisher, as I will miss many other icons of my generation, as they pass on into memory, into history. 2016 didn't take away these people, time is the true fickle beast here, and it knows no mercy. It'll come for us all some day...