Peter Kreten: "The Golden Years" Introduction

This past week I had the pleasure of going out to dinner with two of my grammar school classmates. It had been about 15 years since the three of us were in a room together. As we sat, eat, and reminiscent, this sense of adulthood began to overtake me. It’s funny, in my mind I still think of myself as a “student” and not an adult.

This encounter has caused me to think about a multitude of memories over the past few days, my friends in grade school, my high school experiences, college, the white hen, and so much more. No matter how much you yearn for things to stay the same, nothing ever does. Time marches on as it always does.

While all of this was running through my head, a question popped into my mind. If I had to pick a “golden period” of my life, what would it be? Without much hesitation, the years of 2004-2005 entered. So I thought it would be fun with my next few blogs to write about these two years, and why they are the golden period of my life. The focuses of these blogs will be music, movies, friends, and a few surprises along the way.

Paul McCartney Pictures

Caption: My dad and I


Caption: Live and Let Die


Caption: Let It Be


Caption: Paul doing Hello Goodbye

Paul McCartney Review

So I wanted to wait a few days before I wrote this blog post, to properly allow the live musical experience to enter my subconscious and form a cohesive viewpoint. On Sunday July 31st, I had the privilege, and yes I feel privilege is the correct word to use of attending the Paul McCartney concert at Wrigley Field. As many of my friends and associates can attest to, I am a Beatles freak. At my height of Beatles nerdom, you could give me a Beatles song, any song, and I could tell you not only the album it was on, but also it’s track number. Thankfully and there are days when I question this, those days are gone.

So of course I had a wonderful time seeing Sir Paul play all the hits for the second time live. During Get Back, you would have caught me rocking the air guitar and banging my head. However after reflecting on my wonderful evening with my father and sister, the highlight of the show wasn’t just seeing a living legend, playing in the home of my favorite baseball team ever, it was seeing the shear joy on people’s faces during the show.

All throughout the evening, there was this sense of anticipation that was building to an explosion of excitement, which came when McCartney walked across that stage for the first time. Too often our society downplays these moments of pure childlike excitement as either cheesy, immature, or a waste of time It was a wonderful sight that for three hours, the audience in Wrigley Field could forget all of the problems that they faced at home, work, or in their communities, and just enjoy themselves in an unabashed childlike way.

Some danced with their significant other in the aisle, others rocked the air guitar, while others stood silently listening, with a youthful smile on their faces, remembering the good old days.

That night everyone went home happy. McCartney played a set that consisted of nothing but the hits, which allowed everyone, present to enter a Magical Mystery Tour. Which is something we need to do more often, just sit back and enjoy the simple things in life.

(P.S. blogger for some reason won't let me add more pictures, so I will make a post of nothing but pictures.)