my top 5

when i was 15, my big christmas present was a stereo with a cd player. it was the first cd player of the house. the following week, my parents took me to a media store to buy my first cd's. it's no use having a cd player if you have nothing to play. i got 2 cd's at the store.


this was my first experience with THE BEATLES. i can't remember why i wanted this album in particular, but i do know i listened to it daily for a long time.


when i was 16, the anthologies were released. i remember sitting in the basement watching the long documentary on t.v. with my dad. i thought it was the coolest thing ever. both the learning about the beatles, and connecting with my dad. my dad has an original "meet the beatles" record that he bought in '64. i coveted his record. i thought it was the coolest thing ever. and from that time, i vowed that i would collect beatles.
when i was 17, i realized there was a small group at school who's parents had brought them up loving the beatles. i actually fit into a group that liked something bigger than high school. something different than popular modern stuff. it was then that i started checking out every beatles cd from the library. on sunday, a local oldies radio station had "breakfast with the beatles" and i would record off the radio to get the songs that i didn't have in my collection. it was pretty much the only thing i would listen too. i'm pretty sure my parents were annoyed by my constant beatles music.

when i was 18, my friend deb moved into my neighborhood. she was cool enough, but the moment i found out she liked beatles music, it cemented an instant and total friendship. we soon were having our own experiences, thinking we were grown up, traveling utah to attend beatles tribute bands. maybe even a few out of state. there were a few of us that were crazy enough to drive all night to find our "beatles" and scream like we were in '64. for our talent show in seminary, my friend deb and i played a part of the movie "help" as our talent. every week, we would rent the same vhs to play and watch over and over.


by that time, i had every cd that they had released. we had gone to the local library when they were selling their records, stood in line for hours, to get our hands on a vintage vinyl album. we were serious. it was real to us. we spent our free time finding pictures, thumbing through records at the d.i., and listening to beatles. we talked and dreamed and wished we lived in the 60's.



when we graduated from high school, my friend lacy and i, went out to get our own tattoos, and i was with lacy when she got the most awesome johnny tat on her belly. and i coveted it too. it was like a love letter to mr. john lennon, and it was particularly useful when we would go and see these tribute bands as a way to get to talk to them. they knew we were serious about beatles when they saw the tat.



when i was 19, i got married. and i introduces my husband to all things beatles. from every song, to talking about every song, to every movie and talking endlessly about them. at that time i was a vegetarian, and big d thought it was hilarious when paul and linda were on the simpsons when lisa turns vegetarian. it was like a little bit of awesome for both of us.


when we moved to new york, big d found a record dealer who worked right by his work, and he bought several vintage vinyl. for my birthday or for christmas for the next year, i got a new beatles record.



when i was pregnant with my first baby, for christmas, big d gave me "yellow submarine". my babies all watched it. (at this moment, the vhs is sitting on my desk waiting to be fixed from overuse). my kids all know who john, paul, george, and ringo are. they each have their favorite beatle, their favorite beatle movie, and their favorite beatle song. when they don't know what to buy me for mother's day, or christmas, they buy me a beatles something. they know i'll love it.


this year for jimmy's birthday party, he wanted a "yellow submarine" birthday. he got a new yellow submarine lunch box, and we are making him his own back pack for school with beatles patches.

we are serious about the beatles in this house.

granted, i've always loved john. i've loved him so much, i kissed a few fake johns. i was invited (and declined) an evening with one particularly perverted fake john. but still, i love john lennon. i love what he did, his music.



so when i heard that paul mccartney was coming to salt lake city, i was torn. i mean, it's a beatle. it's the opposite beatle from john lennon. but it's a beatle.



through some crazy good luck, and a very patient big d, we did get tickets. sure they were in the back of a stadium, but we got tickets to see sir paul.

yesterday was the big day. it was surreal.

i'd like to say that getting married or having my children were the most important day in my life. but if i had to rank major life events in order of most fulfilling, i have to say, yesterday is in my top 5.



i saw beatles music being performed by a beatle. by the beatle that wrote it. by one of the most influential musicians in the last 100 years. it was amazing. it was so much more than amazing. at moments during the performance, it would hit me. "this is paul" and my eyes would tear up, and i would want to cry. it was like seeing something you were sure you never would. it was like living in 1964 for just a moment. i could close my eyes and pretend like i used to, or i could keep them open and live in the moment. mostly we would just rock out, because if paul mccartney is anything, he's full of life. for being 67 years old, he rocks. for being my age, he rocks. i don't know how many people can put on a concert for 3 hours with as much energy as he had, but he totally did.

it's hard to explain how much it meant to me to see him. paul played with his original 1960's guitars. amazing. i was in a crowd of 25,000 people, who were on their feet, singing and dancing. we were all connected. it was cool. i've never seen so many beatles fans, so many beatles t-shirts, so many hippies. it was awesome to see people my parents age, who had waited their whole lives to see paul, and see how much it meant to them. and we were a part of it. that was cool.

thanks to big d for making a dream come true.

because seeing something performed by paul, with a ukulele given to him by george has got to be the coolest thing in the world. to me it was. it really was.