Lucky Day

Sure, the glorious & beautiful singer [way better than that stiff, Nelson Eddy] Jeannette MacDonald was born on this day in 1901 and it's the anniversary of the day in 1877 when one of the most marvelous illustrators, Jas. Montgomery Flagg came into the world, but for me, this is & always will be a Beatle Birthday. You may not have known, but that's good luck. Didn't I finally pass the test for my driver's license, years & years ago, on the 18th of June, Paul McCartney's birthday? [How on earth can it be that he's 68? and that Ringo will be 70 next month? Because Time is a runaway train and we're all on this conveyor belt, just passing through, on our way from who knows where to who knows where & who knows when. Ah well: "Further along we'll know all about it/ Further along we'll understand why' so says the old hymn.] I did indeed. And weren't the Beatles the only happiness in my 13-year-old life? When my folks had taken us all to live in a rickety farm house outside of Chilhowee, Missouri? Sad and poor in the boondocks. Wasps and sweat and rubbish, little brothers and racket everywhere. But in my room, behind my door, mercifully closed, there were books and dreams and the Beatles. bless 'em 4-ever.