That really happened.

Yesterday, thousands of people in person and possibly billions from around the world on TV watched the Memorial Service for Michael Jackson from Staples Center in Los Angeles. It is, without a doubt, one of the biggest events in popular culture to happen in some time and will be analyzed, replayed and discussed for a long time to come.

A day later, it’s still pretty mind-blowing to think Michael Jackson is dead, let alone that almost every single television network aired a two hour, commercial free live feed of the same event. Just on that cold, calculating level, it’s an impressive feat.

Then there’s the personal, emotional level. Nothing will touch Michael’s daughter Paris calling him “best father you could ever imagine.” She is a person who knew a Michael Jackson that even his family probably didn’t know and after two hours celebrating his iconic status, we finally got a glimpse at who Jackson had become. A loving father, apparently, which is fitting because he was also the father of so many things in culture, music and the world.

Other things that stick with me a day later were John Mayer’s speechless remembrance where he let his guitar do the talking. Brooke Shields and Magic Johnson telling stories from behind the scenes of events we know so well. The final two songs, “We Are the World” and “Heal the World” which were sung by Jackson’s backup singers (and everyone else to an extent).

Much of the other speeches and performances sort of blend together though. Al Sharpton, Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee, Martin Luther King III and others all memorialized Jackson in their own way but the speeches seemed less personal. They did, however, hint at Jackson’s worldwide scope: as an entertainer, a humanitarian and as a family man.

What are your memories of Tuesday’s event? What sticks out? What will you remember forever, if anything?