Thirty Years Ago

I think every generation has a day they remember as being one which marked the point when they passed from young adulthood to adulthood. I am not talking about things like 9/11 or the first time you...well you know. No it the time when you said "I'm not a kid anymore". For me, that day was 30 years ago today.

It was thirty years ago today that John Lennon was shot and killed, Why was this significant to me? John Lennon was the first of my childhood icons to leave this world and I guess it made me realize that life doesn't go on forever.

We grew up with the Beatles. Beatlemania is the first "event" I clearly remember. Sure I remember the day Kennedy was assassinated but I really  don't remember it affecting my life, I was too young to know if he made a difference or not (that's a subject for my other blog), I even have some memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis, although I didn't know what that was about at the time. But it was when the Beatles appeared on the scene that I remember most.

I remember the Sunday night in 1964 when the Beatles made their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan show", sitting in front of a black and white television at my Aunt and Uncle's house, ten of us sitting there anxiously waiting. Then there were the Beatles Halloween costumes and the "Flip your wig" game, Saturday morning Beatles cartoons and of course waiting for the newest single to come out of the one speaker on the AM radio my mother used to have in the kitchen or when riding in the car. We knew all the words.

John Lennon wasn't my favorite Beatle, I always blamed him for the break-up of the band and for the changes in their music (I always like the plain and simple early stuff until much later )although now I know differently. And when John went solo, I didn't care for his new music, again until much later when I really listened to it.

But the day John was assassinated, hearing it from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football of all people, I was saddened. I guess it was the time on my life that I realized nothing lasts forever. The days go by, people and things change, some people leave, others take their place.

At least the music lives on.