Not Getting Younger Series

Remember those transistor radios we had in the early sixties?

We listened to them as teenagers living in Hensonville, New York. The mountains, as my mother fondly called the area. Her family spent summers at the Windham Arms Hotel to escape the city heat, and we later moved to the remote place. When we were lucky enough to get static reception of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “She Loves You” on a transistor, we would yell for our siblings to run, and listen to the Beatles.

My brother says we got late night reception on WKBW, a Buffalo station. Buffalo was 337 miles away.

My transistor was a pastel color, pink or blue. It may have been a Panasonic and probably a gift from my grandmother. It did not work very well and constantly needed the battery replaced.

Fortunately, my older sister received the first Beatles album for her birthday. There was no static and we could sing along as my brother learned to play the guitar.

This memory came to mind when I read the Associated Press headline that Paul McCartney, who is seventy-two and not getting younger, has given up smoking pot. A little ironic now that it is legal in some places.

I fell in love with Paul McCartney on February 9, 1964, when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and for months after, imagined different scenarios of Paul selecting me out of millions of female viewers to be his wife. I’d be visiting NYC and accidentally bump into him on the subway or at the airport. It was always love at first sight!

My pining diminished shortly after, and Paul eventually married Linda Eastman, a Scarsdale, NY girl. The ordinary looking girl was unknown to most of us. We would learn later of her photographic accomplishments. I wonder if she dreamt  she would be the lucky one or if Beatlemania was only for a sixteen year old.
Linda Eastman’s father was Paul McCartney’s lawyer and manager however, they did not meet through him. They met at a photo shoot and married in 1969.

We all assumed the Beatles dabbled with grass, and possibly more, during their Maharisi Mahesh Yogi phase and studying Transcendental Meditation. I never gave much thought to their marijuana habit, and unaware that Paul was arrested in 1974 for possession.

This announcement was more of a public confession. However, McCartney called it a parental decision. But, he has been a parent for over forty years. Well, he is a granddad now, and wants to set a good example. I guess that is what happens when you are not getting any younger.

. . . .  just saying