My Saturday Night Date with an Old Boyfriend

On Saturday night, April 3, I met an old boyfriend in Miami for the evening. He and I go way back. I was 13 and he was 23. I was pleased to see he looked great for his years. I immediately remembered the reasons why I had fallen in love with him so long ago.

And that was before he started singing to me. He was always a performer. We had that in common. He actually got me started playing guitar and singing. But this night was his. It was a memory I will always cherish.

You see, my old boyfriend is probably yours too if you are of an age and remember the British invasion of America by the famous Beatles. My old boyfriend's name is Paul. Actually, to those not intimate friends, he's Sir Paul McCartney. Although we had known each other for most of our lives, it was the first time I had actually seen him in person. This was one evening in my life that was worth the wait.

He was in Miami at the Sun Life Stadium. That's where he sang to me. There just happened to be a lot of other people there too. Apparently, he is very well known. But last night, it was really just Paul and me. He sang all my favorite songs, the ones I know all the words to and I sang along. Everyone else did too.

The thing about Paul's music as well as the music he made with the Beatles is its ability to touch all people everywhere. The words, "and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" began and ended the evening which consisted of three or four encores, each of which was more fantastic than the one before. I lost count, caught up in the beat, the words and the emotion from the crowd around me.

I hadn't been to a concert in a long time. Until last night, I felt I'd outgrown the craziness and dancing, the standing up all night and the wildness of these gatherings. I'd been an avid concert fan when I was younger but recently it seemed I could no longer relate to the crowds.

Last night proved me wrong. I was thrilled to be there, to watch, live, on stage, the first real heartthrob of my adolescence. He sang the love songs I knew by heart and danced to at proms and parties. He looked almost exactly like he had more than a quarter of a century ago. His music reached out, touching the hearts of everyone there.

The message resounded throughout the arena as we all sang "Give Peace a Chance." John would have been proud of us. Our singing raised the invisible roof of the stadium.

There were massive pyrotechnics, stunning fireworks and the final finale of a massive cloud of pink soap bubbles released over the departing crowd. It was spectacular while being personal and intimate. He let you into his life, remembering his good friends, John and George, now gone from us. He did this in joyous song, not with maudlin recollections. He made us smile while we remembered them and the legends they were and are forever.

And, in the end, he told us to go home, because until we went home, he couldn't go home! He played for three hours and then some without a single break. Oh, yes, there was one costume change which he noted while taking off his Sgt. Pepperish jacket, rolling up his shirtsleeves and snapping his thin black suspenders into place.

His band made him shine. He hit all the high notes and reached into the depths of our collective memories. As I left, I thought about when, if ever, I would see him again. Will he still be playing "Yesterday" when he's 74 or 84? Will I be in a wheel chair by then, sitting on the ground level with all the other elderly "baby boomers" who still remember the words to all his songs?

I made a promise to myself Saturday night that whenever my old boyfriend comes to town from now on, I will be in the audience to see him. Secretly, I will know he's really singing just to me. Paul, you made my evening, you made my year. I'll be back. Thank you for the music. Please don't ever stop!

If "the love you take is equal to the love you make," when Sir Paul McCartney finally leaves our world, he will take most of the love he has helped to generate with him and that will truly be a sad day for all of us.

BEATLES (PAUL) FOREVER!