Other Beatles Stuff
Mom wrote this for One Sweet Dream and I thought it would be nice to include it here, too.
I am reflecting on my younger years. Why do older folks do that? Wow my memory is in overdrive, so be prepared.
I remember being ten years old and wondering why all the girls were screaming and crying on the Ed Sullivan Show. I found out when I looked into the face of Paul McCartney. I was an instant Beatles fan.
My world revolved around the radio, TV shows and records. I would let Paul sing me to sleep with his beautiful And I Love Her. Over the next few years, my friends and I exchanged bubble gum cards just so we could complete the Beatle puzzle on the back of each card.
When I was twelve, some of my friends and I got a pair of Beatle Boots for Christmas! Wow! I was actually cool for a while. I wore those shoes on a daily basis and each night I would clean and polish them until they would shine. I knew I would never get another pair and I wanted to keep them forever. When I was at school with my friends I would make them call me Paul. I probably drove everyone in my family crazy just because I loved The Beatles.
Now, I’m travelling to a time when I was thirteen and it was Halloween. I spent most of my childhood growing up in church and three weeks before this particular Halloween party some of my church friends and I decided what our costumes would be.
We gathered some boxes and traced out my Dad’s guitar one Saturday while my folks were out. I just knew I would get in trouble for touching it so I was very careful and I put it back exactly in its proper place. We then got some paint and went to the garage and painted our “new” guitars! Oh, they were beautiful! We were so proud!!
One of the girls started to cry because we didn’t have a set of drums. Next on the agenda was how to make a set of drums. My dad had some old paint cans in his garage so we fixed us up a real cute little drum set. It took the entire weekend to make the instruments; the next week we worked on our costumes. That was a difficult assignment due to the fact that we needed boys clothes and we were all girls!! We did the best we could at the time. I had some boy cousins so we borrowed some stuff.
By the next Sunday, we were too tired to go to church so we stayed home and rehearsed our mini “concert” for Halloween. We couldn’t wait to show everyone what we had done! On the day of the party we set up our “instruments” just outside of the church, plugged in the record player and began to be The Beatles.
We were having a wonderful time until we found out that the costume rule had been changed to Biblical people instead of “anything you want”. Everyone had a big laugh and enjoyed I Saw Her Standing There at the Church Halloween Party!
Moving to present day, I have bestowed my devotion to Paul on to my daughter. She has had opportunities that I have only dreamed of.
The very first time I took my daughter to see Paul McCartney was very difficult for me. I’d bought her two tickets and she took her friend instead of me. You know how parents sacrifice stuff for their kids? Well, this was a big one! I had wanted to see this man in person since I was 10 years old. Instead, I just took them to the concert and then went to my sister’s house to wait until time to go back to get them.
I got back too early so I just stepped inside to get warm. I talked to the security guards and some limo drivers while we passed the time. I could hear Paul very well and knowing he was just inside that big green curtain was way more than my curiosity could take! I kept inching my way toward the door. No one seemed to try and stop me. I was amazed!
Finally my moment came: the guard went to the bathroom. Oh My God, there were only four feet between me and the big green curtain! My heart was pounding, my feet would not move and I the thought of what I was going to d almost made me hyperventilate.
The next thing I know my hand was on the big green curtain; come on hand open the curtain just a little. My brain finally got my hand to work and there twenty feet in front of me stood The Man! I was frozen to the floor!
The security guard came and asked me if I wanted to step inside for a second.
“I don’t have a ticket!” I said. “I can’t go in!” At this point I was screaming.
He said “OK. You can just stand right there for a bit ‘because he is almost finished”.
I stood there for about a second more and then closed that big green curtain back. I was fine now because I just saw Paul.
Now, my daughter has seen Paul in concert on several occasions. I always tell her how jealous I am of her, in spite of the fact that I was fortunate to attend a concert with her.
She and I both lost our minds and I was in awe of the brilliance that shown center stage of Soldier Field. I will forever be grateful for that special memory on that once in a lifetime, awesome night!!!