Tonight I flew home.
I'm not a big Beatles fan mostly because I'm not one of those guys who grows old and only listens to the music from when they were a sophomore in high school. Also, Paul McCartney's a hump. But I liked the Beatles when I was a kid, and maintain pangs of nostalgia for a few specific songs. When I was visiting my brother's family, I raided their iTunes library for a few oldies, the Beatles "Let It Be" amongst them. Also, The Mamas and the Papas "California Dreamin," one of the songs that seduced me into coming here. (The Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge" was the other, but mostly because I was having a similar love affair with NY at the time and figured, well, if the only other person on earth who gets this does so by way of LA, I think I need to check that out.)
Yesterday I walked all over the city and it was a stunningly beautiful day and I was so in love with it, the day, the light, that town, so in love and it was such a great day, but on the plane ride tonight I was intense on the brother and trying not to cry all stupid in public. At one point during the ride I plugged in the iPod, shuffled my 'random' playlist, and the first song to play was "Let It Be."
Then I turned it off awhile, and when I turned it on again for the landing, and the first song to play was "California Dreamin."
Then I got home and there was a message on my machine that my brother had died earlier this evening.
Tonight my brother died.