Mr. Wheat!

Two nights ago, i was the precise age john lennon was when he was killed - forty years, eight weeks, three days, twenty-three hours, and fifty minutes. I went to the Dakota, his Central Park home, and stood by the gate where he was murdered. When the clock hit 10:49, i closed my eyes, spread my arms, and counted to sixty.
I wasn't waiting for something mystical. I wasn't expecting to be transformed, or gunned down. I wasn't expecting the ghosts of john and stu to walk by, or meet some person i was fated to meet. There was no particular reason i did this, other than the depth to which john's music has touched me. Not only "Imagine", the single most resonant musical statement i've ever known, but "God", "Woman Is the Nigger of the World", and "Watching the Wheels" are on the short list of songs that have touched my life most deeply.
Certainly, it was a moment to reflect on mortality, and how none of us are ever guaranteed more than the next few seconds. It's fair to say that at least a couple of readers here will die a sudden, unexpected death. One of us might not even make it to the end of this article. What will you do on your last day? Punch the clock? Make a glorious ass of yourself?
I had invited a fellow lennon fan along, then another friend, but i ended up experiencing this observance alone. Appropriate, i guess. After a few minutes, i got on my bike and headed home, where i listened to the following set:
-Imagine (bruce hornsby)
-Imagine
-Woman Is the Nigger of the World
-Happy Christmas/Give Peace a Chance
-Norwegian Wood
-All You Need is Love
-I've Got a Feeling
-The Ballad of John and Yoko
-Free As a Bird
-Watching the Wheels
-Woman
-God
-Life Begins at 40
-Grow Old With Me
-Empty Garden (elton john)
-Imagine (Blues Traveler)
I recommend to any who observe a similar lennon moment, include a watching of the SNL broadcast of buckwheat's death, which addressed the philosophical question of how long to wait before making fun of brutal slaughter. I like to think john would have laughed. As for me, i'm just living on borrowed time. I'm here today, and i feel fine.
Everyone still alive? Okay, we may get another tomorrow. Shall we share, take responsibility, and love all?
I'm not the only one.