ONE OF THOSE MEMORABLE DAYS



Photo taken the day John Lennon Was shot.

 I don't remember the date until it comes up each year, but the day John Lennon was killed is one of those days which I will always remember.  I was living in San Diego - I had recently moved back there to an apartment in Pacific Beach because I was preparing to start law school.  I was seeing a guy then who was a few years older than me.  He called - stunned by the news.  We shared our thoughts, feelings, memories.  Both of us recalled the feelings we had when Bobbie Kennedy and Martin Luther King were shot.  Those tragedies which marked our teens still left tender places in our hearts.

Whenever I think of this day I also think of the impact The Beatles had on my life.  My first boy-girl party in 5th grade where we listened to Meet the Beatles over and over.  The albums marked my growing up years - the years of change and evolution in my life and in the world. 

 As a suburban girl, I was introduced to a larger world by the travels and experiences of the Beatles which they shared in their lyrics.  I am thinking of the Magical Mystery Tour and the references not just to drugs but to meditation and spirituality.  I received the coveted White Album for Christmas when I was 16.  A double album.  I had the song "I Will" from that album played at my wedding.  I am not a music critic or at all knowledgeable about these things except for my feelings and memories all tied up and connected with the songs of Lennon and McCartney.

I think John Lennon was a genius.  I think The Beatles was the best and most important music group ever.  I wish John Lennon had been allowed to live longer so that we could all have experienced more of what he had to give - and so his children and the woman who loved him could have shared their lives with him.

Maybe it is partly my current mood about our politics right now - it just seems like so many who had so much promise have been taken from us - those of us in my age group feel it especially keenly because we were so touched by these men.