in the mid 90s, my brother’s best friend (won’t name him for privacy, let’s call him dave) was basically part of the jackson family circle. his uncle was either married to or dating janet jackson at the time (pretty sure it was rené elizondo jr. but i never met him)
dave lived in this relatively dingy, modest house, but the inside was a total bait and switch because of the gifts he got from his uncle and janet. the most vivid memory i have is him having a nintendo 64, or at least the prototype(?) for it, like a full year or so before it actually launched in stores. he just had all this high-end exclusive tech sitting in a regular living room 😭
at some point, we were spending a weekend at his house and they got a call from their uncle inviting dave out to the ranch. dave’s parents said we were staying with them and the invitation was then extended 😀 but when we called my parents they ended up saying no and wouldn't let us go.
i didn't realize the scale of what i was missing out on until i got older, but knowing i missed the peak 90s Neverland experience because my parents were being LAME still stings 😭
edit: correction for wrong year. it was a long time ago now.