My life changed the day I met a 60-year-old man, the man I would fall in love with. I was only 18, and fresh from my high school graduation. But it isn't what you are thinking, I wasn't in to older men, and the man in question wasn't a pedophile.
Maybe I should start at the beginning of my story. My name is Anne O'Sullivan. I was born on May 12, 1983, in Austin, Texas. I am Irish by blood, but American by birth. However I do show my Irish roots; I have red hair, blue eyes, and impossibly pale skin.
My favorite books are, of course, the Anne of Green Gables series. I saw myself in the redheaded girl called Anne with an E. I know it is very predictable of me, since my name and the way I look are reminiscent the character. But I was also like Anne Shirley because I did not fit in.
I didn't really like modern things. I loved oldies music, and even the way I dressed didn't look modern. People at my high school thought I was really strange. In fact I only had one good friend, my best friend, Sandy. We were alike in many ways. The biggest was we were both rejects. We didn't care what the latest fashion was, or if our football team had won or lost. We had other friends that were like us, rejects, but Sandy and I were inseparable. And as corny as it sounds, I thought of us as Kindred Spirits.
A few weeks before I was to meet the man who would change my life, I was like any other American high school senior. I was ready for high school to be over, and luckily for me graduation was coming up. Although the thought of never again being in high school was exciting, the thing I was most excited about was my trip to England. I was a very lucky girl; for my graduation present my parents were paying for a trip to England. Not only that, but Sandy's parents were also paying for her to go. It was the best gift we had ever received, we were both 18 and we were going to be on our own in a foreign country for 3 weeks.
Sandy and I had planned out every nuance of our trip. However there was one thing we disagreed on.
"Why do we have to go see that old guy?" I asked.
"Because he's my idol, and we're going to be in Liverpool on the day of the concert," Sandy replied.
"But it will be so boring. I wont even know any of the songs!"
"And whose fault is that? I have tried to get you to listen to the Beatles, but you barely listen before freaking out and turning their music off. Why do you do that?" She asked impatiently.
"I don't know, for some reason I get creeped out whenever I hear any of their music. Please don't make me go," I begged.
"We agreed that we could both pick out a city to go to, that the other person could not object to going to. And I picked Liverpool. While we are there we are going to see every Beatle-esque thing we can find, including Paul McCartney's concert. I haven't complained that you are dragging me to Bath to see the Roman Baths and a boring house where Jane Austen once lived," she said angrily.
"I'll go if I have to, but can't you go to the concert alone?" I asked hopefully.
"No" she replied in firm voice. "I've already bought the tickets, and besides you need to get rid of this irrational fear of all things relating to the Beatles"
"Fine. I'll go," I sighed, but I was not happy about it. It was really strange that I could not listen to the Beatles since most of the music I listened to was oldies. Even though I didn't want to go, Sandy was right. I had to get rid of this irrational fear.
Three weeks later we arrived in London.
I have to say I hated London at first. It was polluted, smelly, and many people were rude. However, slowly but surely London began to grow on me. I began to realize that the city was just on a completely different pace than my hometown. I got used to riding the Underground, and hailing taxis with drivers that had to be the craziest I had ever seen. Sandy and I stayed in London for four days before moving on.
We went to Cambridge and then Edinburgh, Scotland, before finally arriving in Liverpool. I was extremely apprehensive riding the train to Liverpool. I was scared, but I didn't know why. Sandy kept telling me that I had to face my fears, so I did the best I could to pull myself together.
When we arrived in Liverpool, we went directly to the Britannia Adelphi Hotel. Luckily for me the hotel boasted that the Beatles had once stayed there. Sandy was excited; I just felt sick to my stomach.
Sandy had our entire stay in Liverpool planned out. Though we were only staying two days, we were going to see everything. On the schedule for that day was going on the "Magical Mystery Tour", basically a yellow bus that had Magical Mystery Tour written on the side.
The tour took us to almost every Beatle landmark in the town. To my surprise I began to have a sense of D�j� vu. The places that I felt this the most was at Paul McCartney's house, John Lennon's House, Penny Lane, and especially The Cavern.
While at the cavern everyone was allowed to get up on the stage and have his or her photo taken. When I climbed onto the stage I really felt like I had been there before. When I looked out to the floor area I began to see things that were not there. Before there had only been 15 people there, but for just a second I saw a couple hundred people screaming and clapping.
I guess I was standing up there too long because Sandy grabbed my hand and pulled me down.
"What is wrong with you?" she asked.
"I don't know, I just thought I saw something" I replied.
"What did you see?" she asked curiously.
"I don't know really, but I'm fine now" I said, not wanting to go any further into it.
And I was fine until a dark haired man got up on the stage to get his picture taken. All of the sudden there was a band on the stage and they were playing. I immediately recognized them as the Beatles; I could even hear them playing. Paul McCartney was singing "Long Tall Sally". I was so mesmerized by the sight, I didn't recognize what was going on around me. When I turned to look at Sandy, she had disappeared and in her place was a crowd of teenage girls. They were singing and dancing to the music. I turned back to Paul and saw he was looking at me, and then he gave me a wink. Just then I was pulled back into the future. Paul was changed back into the dark haired man, and Sandy was back beside me.
I was freaked out; nothing like that had ever happened to me before. Sandy looked over and noticed the state I was in.
"Come on it will be okay. I can't wait to go to the concert tomorrow. It will be historic to see Paul McCartney back at the Cavern," she said excitedly.
"The concert is going to be here?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah. We were extremely lucky to get tickets, when I called they had just had someone return their tickets. And there were exactly two! So you see its fate, we were meant to see Paul McCartney tomorrow!"
I nodded, believing her for once. I usually thought Sandy was crazy when she went on about her belief in fate. But somehow I believed we were meant to be here. I couldn't help thinking that something extraordinary was going to happen at the concert.
And though I was prepared for something unusual to transpire, there was no way I could have been prepared for what did happen.
