A Song to Remember

A few weeks ago, we attended a family birthday gathering, hosted by our long time friends. Due to the growing size of the family, they are now holding seasonal parties for several members of the family whose birthday's fall within a season. It was a fine gathering of folks of differing age groups spanning some 80 years. The highlight of the event for me, came as the star birthday boy, who I guess would be considered a "tweener", asked several of us adults to come and look at his new stereo system. He was very excited and put on a Beatles CD to demonstrate. I was a bit surprised by the choice, but figured he probably was just being considerate of us older folks, who were admiring his new birthday gift. As he flipped through the various songs, he seemed to know the words. I was now intrigued, as I have never known his parents to have played Beatles music with any enthusiasm that seemed to match his. As the adults left the room, he confided to me that he loved the Beatles... they were his favorite group. I chimed in with complete honesty... Mine too! With that, my young friend asked if I wanted to hear his very favorite song of all time. "Of course!" I replied. He put on "Let it Be" and started singing... I couldn't help but join in. Together we sang our duet, both knowing the words, the pauses, and the inflections, as we held our imaginary microphones. During the guitar solos we even played air guitar, and did the Ner, Ner, Ner's together.  For those few minutes, it didn't matter that I was some 40 years older, we were two friends enjoying music meant to be shared. I will treasure that memory, and if the time comes when I get old, and start complaining about the "youth of today" ( as so many old cranky people do), I hope I will remember that duet, stifle my complaint, and remind myself to let it be.