Ten Years After

Hard to believe but another school year is coming to an end almost before it seems to have started. The following, from May 17, 2006, is about a whole decade whistling by.


My favorite Beatles' song is Yesterday, a haunting ballad sung by Paul McCartney, accompanied simply by acoustic guitar and a string arrangement. There is a fascinating historical breakdown of this classic at wikipedia.com. Among other nuggets of knowledge, we find:
1. The original title was Scrambled Eggs. McCartney penned the melody and came up with the lyrics some time later.
2. Only Paul appeared on the song. In fact, the other Beatles did not like it. In fact, they blocked its release as a single in England in 1965. John Lennon disparaged it in interviews on several occasions.
3. Yesterday has had more cover versions recorded than any other song, totaling in excess of three thousand.

Why Yesterday today? It's a nostalgia issue for me. Ten years ago today, I was part of the most memorable high school athletic contest in my coaching career. On May 17, 1996, our Friendship Christian School (Lebanon, Tennessee) baseball team beat Goodpasture in a thrilling substate game for the right to play in the Single A State Tournament held in Chattanooga the following week. I wrote extensively about that game and that season in my book, in a chapter entitled Ricky. The focus of that book section was Ricky Stem, a talented pitcher on that Commander squad who would die tragically one month later. I recall few specifics of the game itself but the emotion of doing something no baseball team in our school's history had accomplished was overwhelming. The end of game celebration, captured on film by team mother Debbie Foutch, remains one of my favorite pictures. What struck me today is the passage of time. Ten years? It's not possible- it was only yesterday. I mentioned that my memories of the game are fuzzy but not of the ride home. I drove the school van back to our rural campus carrying only three players: Sam Crutcher, Burke McFarland, and Ben Johnson. A hilarious scene ensued when we unloaded at the field house. Burke accidentally slammed Sam's hand in the sliding van door...and laughed about it. An enraged Sam, the most mild mannered young man I ever taught, chased Burke with every intent of maiming him. I don't think he ever quite caught up to his antagonist, sparing Burke to annoy Sam at least one more day. 

Ten years worth of the earth revolving- 3652 days to be exact, counting two leap years- have been added to the calendar since that wonderful afternoon. Where are those three now? Sam went to med school, Burke enlisted in the military, and Ben teaches and coaches here with me at Westbury Christian School in Houston. They are all men now. Ben didn't remember this was the anniversary until I reminded him. When I was a kid, a decade was an eternity. Now, it's gone before you know it. Einstein spoke of time slowing down at the speed of light but his theory seems to work in reverse as we get older. God's interpretation of time is translated on a much different level than is ours, as his created beings. You can measure time in a multitude of ways but the one that matters most is how it is calculated through our hearts. I find that my heart is a most inaccurate timepiece.

PS: Sad news item of the day: News report from England today report the impending divorce of Paul McCartney and wife Heather Mills McCartney. Sir Paul refused to sign a prenuptial agreement four years ago, considering it unromantic. According to British law, the soon-to-be-ex Mrs. Paul McCartney could receive $380 million dollars from the settlement.
 
To watch a live rendition of Yesterday, click or copy/paste the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptE0Z6tMSpk

Applicable quote of the day:
"Yesterday,
All my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday."
Paul McCartney

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com