The following photos of this limited edition signed Paul McCartney “Blackbird Singing” represent a sad story in my life in regards to collecting. These are saved old archived photos of the book title that I took once the book had arrived and they represent a very sad reawakening of the character of someone that I had called a friend and trusted. As it turns out my faith and trust were unfortunately misplaced.
When my mom passed away, the friend assisted in the cleanup of her home to get the 2 family house in proper shape for our family to sell the home. Well, a few items disappeared from my collection as a result and this was one of those items. When a sacred trust is broken, it cuts to the bone. Unfortunately, my collection was so massive, that I did not notice the item was missing until much later when I also discovered my former friend had passed away.
I hate to bring people down with sad tidings but one of the things we need to deal with in life is to learn how to deal with big disappointments and to find a way to cope with our losses both with people and things! You also learn that there are some people that you can trust and others you can not. Above you heard an example of mistrust of one individual but here is a better part of the story and it involves a “true” friend:
This item held a special memory for me as the person who was my best man at my wedding, who also happened to be my boss was also a big Beatles fan. I was the type of fan who always kept us up-to-date with the latest Beatles news. I had learned that Mark Lapidos of the Fest for Beatles Fans had arranged to sell copies of a signed and numbered edition of Paul’s poetry book “Blackbird Singing” and he gave the time they would go on sale in his regular newsletter, and unfortunately we would both be at work at that time of the sale. My friend said, don’t worry John, and when the time arrived for the book sale, he got through on his cell phone and ordered us two copies. I quickly compensated him for his trouble and the cost of my copy of the book. My dear friend who was kind enough to order the 2 books has since passed away from a respiratory problem.
The lesson I learned from all of this, without trying to be too preachy, is to be grateful for what you have as things are fleeting but true good friends are with you always. Hopefully, this story did not depress anyone! I hope you enjoy the photos that remain of the book…
I have an extensive Beatles collection as well, and didn’t notice that my 1988 White Album CD set was missing. On Christmas of 1989, my ex-husband (we had divorced in March 1989) gave me a wrapped present which was the CD. At first I was confused – “I already have this!” and he confessed he had taken it. To this day we remain friends (we have boy/girl twins together as well) and he has always been helpful with the kids, then grandkids and my mom (who passed away last Dec. 14th at age 93 from Alzheimer’s)
I’m sorry your “friend” wasn’t as generous.
Sad, but at the same time nice story, John. Thank you for sharing with us a piece of your big heart.