My former newspaper colleague Pat Cunningham was born in 1942, the same year as Beatles legend Paul McCartney. So, Pat and Sir Paul turned 64 in 2006.

Pat marked the milestone that year with an essay for our newspaper. He spun it around McCartney’s song “When I’m Sixty-Four” about lovers growing old together. You’ll recognize the chorus:

Will you still need me, will you still feed me

When I’m sixty-four?

Alas, I remember nothing more about the essay. Pat surely noted how McCartney wrote “Sixty-Four” in 1956 – 50 years earlier. At age 14. And he probably riffed on life and accomplishments and relationships.

I’ve thought often of Pat and his essay for the past year, and not only when Pat died in August, age 81.

You see, my “When I’m Sixty-Four” year arrived last May. Because of Pat – no, not McCartney – I’ve thought often about life and accomplishments and relationships.

The year brought joy. Our daughters and my university students excelled.

And worry. A cancer diagnosis.

Today, I turned 65.

Pat, please tell me. Is there a song for that?

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More About the Seasons of Life

One half of the teen muddle

Of old friends and old shirts

‘You’ll do the eulogy’

Pluses and minuses of ‘maturity’

Great songs, no sainthood

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From the Beatles