Reagan Dickson asked everyone she knew to enter the online lottery for tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial service.

"I got on Facebook, and implored all of my friends," said Dickson, a 29-year-old mom from Draper, Utah, and a longtime Michael Jackson fan. "I said, 'I will give you my kidney.' "

A friend from college was one of the thousands of names drawn, and she and Dickson flew to Los Angeles for the service.

After Tuesday afternoon's ceremony, Dickson said, "I did not prepare to cry that hard."

Dickson said hearing Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris, break down in tears was the toughest part. "That was absolutely the moment when I sobbed my eyes out," she said.

The many tributes to Jackson, and the focus on his music, have been touching, Dickson said.

"I love the way everybody's remembering him. A lot of the negativity is gone," she said. "The crown jewel is that people have returned to loving him and letting him go."

Sean P. Means