Happy Birthday!

I was going to write about something else, but on the way to taking our dog Niko to the groomer (I should have taken a before picture…) I heard on the radio that today, June 18, is Sir Paul McCartney’s birthday. He is 82.

Where has the time gone?

I’m old enough that I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in February 1964, and it was love at first sight. The Beatles were my first serious foray into rock ‘n’ roll. (The album I purchased previous to that was the soundtrack to “Lawrence of Arabia.” This tells you how much rock was sooo not on my radar.)

Paul was my absolute favorite. He was everything I was not - cute, outgoing, unafraid. My best friend, bless her heart, set her sights on George. 

Two other friends thought Ringo and John were pretty cool. We used to get together in my basement and lip sync to Beatles songs. Four 14-year old girls, gaga over the mop tops. It was bliss.

In September of 1964, the Beatles came to Milwaukee, and my best friend Judy’s dad worked at the arena and got us tickets. We drooled in anticipation for at least two months. And it came at such a great time. Judy and I ended up going to different high schools and the separation was painful. The trip to the Beatles concert came the same week as my first turn as a high school student. (The fact that it was a six-year school and everybody in my freshman class except me knew everybody else had, I’m sure, nothing to do with the alienation I felt. Paul and his cronies saved me.)

Over the years, the Beatles and then the solo careers by each of the members (but especially Paul) were a large part of the soundtrack of my life. Billy Joel came later, and that’s another story.

What does this have to do with animals? Nothing, really, but it’s Paul’s birthday and he deserves a shout out. He did live on a farm in Scotland with horses and other four-leggeds for a number of years. Just the fact that he and Linda had horses was enough to have me loving him even more. And he’s vegan. (Linda was vegetarian. I am neither, but honor any being that gives its life so my body, which stubbornly refuses to feel good without animal protein, can survive.)

Complex, brilliant, and still singing after all these years. Happy birthday, Sir Paul.