Tonight I watched the Grammy salute to The Beatles. As a child of the 60’s, I, saw them for the first time on February 9, 1964. After hearing about their debut  for weeks, at  8 o’clock on that  Sunday night, we saw them on  “The Ed Sullivan Show”.  Thus began a 50-year love affair. They were and still are my favorite band.

As unbelievable as it seems to me, tonight was the 50-year anniversary of that fateful night.  It really WAS “50 years ago today that Sargeant Pepper taught the band to play”. I am SO grateful for this experience!

The Beatles changed my life. I don’t say that lightly.  They inspired me to write my first poem – the first of many. I still write poetry today. Who knew?

The first album I ever purchased was “Meet The Beatles”. I was too young to drive. The day the album was released,  I walked to the store. Did I mention I was in love?

Not only did I fall in love with them. My 50-year love affair included rock n’ roll and dancing. It was a new world after them. I still rock, I still roll, and I still dance; I still remember all the words, I still can’t sing very well, and I still love to dance. I can still cut a mean run – perhaps  a bit slower, but just by a bit!

I still have that debut album – along with 100’s of others . I can’t imagine ever parting with any old vinyl.   I am not saying that I play any of these albums. I’m just saying that I won’t get rid of them.  In spite of owning a surround sound system, I just never know when the mood may hit me to play vinyl! Of course, I own a turntable old-fashioned record player. Doesn’t everyone? At least that’s what I tell my husband.

But I digress….

Of course, I mourned the loss of John and then George. I felt I had lost true friends. I wrote poems.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love to travel. One of the items on my bucket list was a trip to Abbey Road and Apple. That has been checked off. The visit to Liverpool is still in my future. Like most baby boomers, I find that sometimes I forget things. I say that to say this…last week I was having a discussion with my husband. Ironically, I forget what the discussion was about. However, I know it concluded when I told him I could still remember John Lennon’s birthday.

After all these years, I knew John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940. If I somehow managed to forget a reader’s birthday, please don’t take it personally. Please remember this has been a very long love affair. Did I mention it’s been 50 years??.

Not only do I remember Beatle trivia, I remember lyrics. I was moved to shed a few tears tonight as I watched an audience mouth the words to the songs. Watching Paul and Ringo mouth lyrics to their own songs was a bit surreal!

Hearing the songs, seeing the images, and hearing the stories brought back a flood of memories.- memories of a more innocent America. A time when everyone was home on a Sunday evening to watch a band. That band was a major force in shaping my generation – The Boomers.

It’s been a long way from the sixties to the present. I would trade today’s lyrics shaping today’s generation for the innocence of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” shaping mine in a New York minute. Here’s to John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Here’s to all those Beatles moments that helped shape your life. . Here’s to John, Paul, George, and Ringo – “In my life, I’ve loved them all.”