Recently, I watched the documentary Get Back, and I found it so fascinating that it has launched me down a path of trying to learn more about the Beatles.
I still don’t know much, but I’ve been watching a few documentaries and reading a few books. I have so much more to learn—it’s exciting.
As I was poking around, for some reason, in an idle moment, I got curious about Paul McCartney’s personal life. I can’t even remember why I was curious, but I looked online to learn more about his marriages.
Paul McCartney was married to his first wife, Linda, for 29 years. Very sadly, she died of cancer, and later, he married a woman named Heather Mills. In an article about that relationship, I read something that I keep thinking about.
According to the article, at some point, McCartney introduced Heather Mills to his friends, including his old friend, artist Astrid Kirchherr [kurch hair], whom he’d known since the early 60s.
In the article, Astrid Kirchherr is quoted saying of Paul McCartney: “He was so protected by Linda, and surrounded with her love and care, that he was like an unborn baby towards women.”
Now I have no background on that situation, and I don’t have any opinion about it.
This comment struck me only for reasons that had nothing to do with Paul McCartney or his relationships. When I read this, I thought, what a beautiful thing to say about a married couple. I would love to think that my friends would say something like that about me and my husband Jamie, to say, “How protected Jamie was by Gretchen, how surrounded by her love and care,” and that somehow with my love, I’d shaped his whole perspective on the world.
It reminds me of something that comedian and TV host Trevor Noah wrote in his terrific memoir, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. He observed, “Love is a creative act. When you love someone you create a new world for them. My mother did that for me, and with the progress I made and the things I learned, I came back and created a new world and a new understanding for her.”
I love the idea that with our love, we can help to create a more beautiful world for someone else.
If you have the time and inclination, I encourage you to go listen to the song “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney.