Hey y’all! Today’s posts are all about Elvis! I’ve talked here several times about how much I like him, and today’s posters share my love for The King!

Jennifer from Crazy Shenanigans is also a huge Elvis fan! She just got back from a trip to Memphis a few weeks ago, and I so wish I’d gone with her! Be sure to check out Crazy Shenanigans and her travel blog JMO Travels.

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I’m Jennifer from over at Crazy Shenanigans and guess what… I’m an Elvis fan. I’m actually a really big fan of his. I love his music, his movies, his humanitarian efforts and most of all what he taught us about the American dream. 

I’ve been to the King’s home, Graceland twice and I’m attending this year’s Elvis Week. It will be my first time and I can’t wait to experience it and be around thousands of other Elvis fans. Now I could go on and on about the reasons why I love Elvis but that would just be silly. So instead, I’d like to talk about what he represents… at least in my eyes. I believe Elvis represented the good and the bad in the American dream.

If you know anything about the King of Rock n’ Roll is that he wasn’t always the King. He grew up in a two room shack in Tupelo, Mississippi. His family barely had money for food, let alone any extra extravagances. From a young age he had a dream of being able to what he loved the most- singing and to in turn be able to take care of his momma and the rest of his family. He didn’t care about having money for cars, clothing or impressing girls, sure that would be a great plus but he just wanted to provide. He’d lay awake at night and hope and pray for the future.

And as we all know, he achieved his dream. He rose from the poverty and became one of the most recognized faces in the world. He was able to buy his momma the house of her dreams and give her everything she could possibly want and more. Along the way he made tons of friends, his fans grew by the thousands and he got more than he could ever dream of. He spent a lot of time giving back to charities, down and out friends and family and often total strangers. However, with fame and achieving the American dream came the downside.

Once you get everything you’ve ever wanted what do you do next? He became depressed, dependent on prescription drugs, developed mood swings and shut people once close to him out of his life. He had the American dream and to him it started slipping away. He had the fans, the music and the money but to him it was about finding his spiritual side and being happy. He died way too early in life and I often think that he could have been saved. So what does he represent the American dream because many others follow in his same foot steps. Don’t we all wonder and secretly wish to know what it would be like to be rich and famous? Well there’s always a downside to the dream and Elvis taught us that.