Day 484: When I'm 64....

When I get older, losing my hair

Many years from now,

Will you still be sending me a valentine

Birthday greetings bottle of wine?.....

"Doing the garden, digging the weeds,

Who could ask for more?

Will you still need me, will you still feed me,

When I'm 64?"

Paul McCartney, 1967

Paul was my favorite Beatle right from the moment they first appeared on the music scene in the 1960's.  One of the most exciting events of high school was when our sorority went to see them perform in Toronto in 1964 or 65.  Screaming filled the entire auditorium and obscured all the singing, but we didn't care.  

Paul wrote "When I'm 64" when he was 16 and it was released June 1, 1967, just a few weeks before I graduated.  At the time, aging to 64 seemed impossibly distant.  I never imagined myself as 64, not because I expected to die sooner, but because 64 was ancient.  Now, here I am.  

I'm living in my eighth decade and have seen so many changes in the world.  As a a historian, I often marveled at how many transformations people witnessed if they lived from 1900 to 2000, but I've seen so much.  The fall of the Berlin Wall, the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations of JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King, the moon landings, Title IX.  I remember when we girls couldn't play competitive sports and I wanted so much to.  I remember when the Post Office finally accepted women.  I remember being asked at job interviews if I could coach football or baseball and if I planned to have children.  Lots of advances for women.  

And so many wars, but Vietnam colored my whole generation. I argued with my parents about Vietnam, the draft and just about everything else.    I remember our first tv as a little girl and watching Roy Rogers and Mickey Mouse Club, the first time tv programs were broadcast in color, and our first commodore 64 computer.  

My personal journey has been simple, but rich.  Family, growing up, college, marriage, children, teaching, friends, students, retirement, travel, gardens, writing.   What lies ahead?  How much time do I have left?  Every day is full and fleeting.  Our children have grown and moved away, our parents are gone, our friend move south.  We travel, eager to see as much as the world can offer, to renew and maintain friendships and relationships.  Each day is precious.  

I

Birthday flowers

Goodbye to the old pool!