Follow the Yellow Submarine

Last night I finally listened to Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. I say finally because I received at least 4 summons to listen to it in the two days prior to actually doing it.

1. While driving home from work at 6am on a Sunday morning I listened as a twelve year old girl read a letter she wrote to NPR's "This I Believe In". She disclosed that the Beatles music was the only music that her family could agree on during long road trips. In particular, she mentioned that they would all sing along to Yellow Submarine. The letter she read went on to reveal her wise father's attempt at finding their lost dog by driving through the neighborhood blasting the Beatles through the car's speakers. This didn't bring the dog running but it was a memorable experience for the girl who's father passed away not longer after this incident.

2. Once home on that Sunday I slept for about 4 hours then went to the farmer's market and the grocery store. Home again...I began cooking away. Then, the boys walked in. My roommate and two of our friends from SB. I loved that there were hungry boys in the house because I had just made enough blueberry pancake batter for our little army. JR and I started talking about food, spirituality, messages, and music. He brought up the Beatles, namely the song Yellow Submarine. He said he loved the song and heard the message it offered.

3. At a party at my best friends new pad she and I talked to a musician that was really in tune with life. He talked about coincidences and I told him about the Yellow Submarine and how it kept popping up. He asked if I had listened to it yet to find out what it's lyrics meant to me. He said that there are no coincidences, just hints that you are on the right path when you're receptive to them.

4. I typed Yellow Submarine into the search bar on my computer but my internet was misbehaving so I decided to listen to a couple of pod casts that my best friend downloaded for me awhile ago. One was from "This American Life" and it was entitled Quiz Shows. The first story was about a man that was an unlikely candidate for Ireland's Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He was painfully shy and more than that he discussed his self hatred and feelings of worthlessness as sound bites from the show played in the background. The first question he was asked was "What color was the Beatles Submarine? Red, Green, Yellow, or..." Of course, he got it, along with 250,000 pounds worth of other questions, an audience that couldn't help but root for the soft spoken man, and some new found self-esteem...And I got another summons to listen to the song.

Hence, finallyfinding the song with a smile of acknowledgment (of something greater at work here) from ear to ear backed by the thoughts, "Alright, I get it, I must listen to this song".

Of course, I have heard it before I just never really listened to it before. This time I listened to each lyric and waited for it to speak to me. It didn't. Don't get me wrong, I like the song and it may have a message beyond living together on a yellow submarine with our friends on board, yet, the message I got from the whole experience was that my myspace quote is so true, "Pleasure lies in the pursuit, not the destination"