I started going to concerts not long after I became a teenager.

The first concert I attended was in the Field House at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. The performer was Judy Collins.

I don’t remember what songs she played that night, but I can still picture her, through the crowd ahead of me, standing on the stage in a bright, white spotlight, long hair framing her face, strumming a big acoustic guitar, singing and smiling at her band playing around her.

It seems appropriate that tonight, on the evening of the last day of my fifties, I again saw Judy Collins in concert, this time in Porstmouth, NH, on the stage of the Prescott Park Arts Festival. 

And tonight, her still-gorgeous voice and her big acoustic guitar filled the cool night air with this song.

Thank you, Judy Collins, thank you very, very much.