This is a notable week — not historic, mind you — but two events likely struck a chord with many who are heading into, or thriving in, their senior years.
No, it’s not about the critical vote at the Corner Brook mill, the election in Greece or even the price of oil’s impact on the provincial budget.
This week, in a bit of cosmic birthday synergy, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Paul McCartney of the Beatles both turned 70.
It’s almost impossible to fathom.
They may be just a couple of old geezers to those of the iPod generation but it should come as a jolt of reality to those who have graying temples and are closer to retirement than they care to admit — mostly to themselves.
These are two icons of the “swinging ’60s” that aging baby boomers grew up listening to and a memorable decade they lived through.
Wilson and McCartney were, and are, woven into the lives of those of us who were teens and young adults during that era and waited with bated breath for the next LP — yes on vinyl or 8-track — to be released.
It was a different time. In retrospect, to many, a better, friendlier and freer time.
A lucky few had a front-row seat on the world-altering events but most of us lived on the fringes and only regret we weren’t able to experience the noise of Woodstock, marching to end the Vietnam War, doing our bit to shatter segregation in the U.S. or even could have afforded a noisy hot rod to impress the guys and gals.
Looking back from this distance — a lifetime — it sometimes seems we did.
There may be more important issues facing the world this week, but these two coinciding birthdays say plenty about where we have come from and where we are headed.
Mostly, it shows how fleeting time is and how important it is to use every day to its fullest.
