"I Wanna Hold Your Haaaaaand!"

I remember it like it was yesterday--the whole family gathered around our black and white TV much like we did EVERY Sunday night--Ed Sullivan!!.  The Sunday roast leftovers had been made into sandwiches--toasted white bread, mustard, sliced homemade dill pickles provided the perfect sandwich crunch.  We each had our own little plate--sandwiches like this are still the ultimate comfort food for me.  We usually had chocolate milk as well. This particular Sunday carried with it the anticipation which had been building.  The Beatles were coming!!!  I was already the proud owner of a Beatles 45 record--"She Loves You" and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".  In light of the current technology, that turquoise and white square boxed hi-fi with the center spindle and round 45 record adapter unit which you had to wedge onto the spindle when you switched from 33 1/3 to 45 seems just short of cave man.  But I remember listening to that record for hours and hours on my stomach in front of it watching it go around and around.  My three best friends and I premiered later that winter as the Fab 4 in our weekly 5th grade talent show.  I was Ringo--he was my favorite for a long time, obviously until I discovered Paul.  We had wigs and lip synched.  Great fun.  We were a hit.  Those same friends and I watched ALL the Beatles movies at the theatre on Friday night.  I've been a fan for 50 years.  I madly snapped photos a decade or so back of the pub in London where Linda met Paul.  I reverently visited Strawberry Fields in Central Park in the 90's and painstakingly took pictures of my students, lying down heads to the center of the Imagine mosaic there.  My classrooms have always sported some Beatles references--posters, biographies, bobble head dolls. Fifty years is a long long time to keep friends--especially ones you've never met and who are so very very famous at that.  I looked around my fifth grade classroom the other day and determined where we would have stood during that talent show.  The fact that my 50 year memories are connected to my year gives me warm feelings.  So I'm just pausing to pay homage to you guys.  Thanks.  You're down by half.  I'm so sorry about that.  You had a good run, albeit brief.  Rock on... You are truly in a class by yourself.