Karin thanks the man who brought her the magic dragon

peter yarrow

On this day, Tuesday April 27th, 2010 AD, Peter of Peter Paul and Mary fame serenaded me in my boss’ kitchen. He also kissed my hands when they were in the prayer position and asked me if I attended summer camp. This all sounds a tad insane, so it might be easier if I give you a narrative:

SCENE: Sitting in CEO’s backyard talking about serious things and counting down the hours till 6 pm.

CEO: Puff the magic dragon

ME: Excuse me? (Here I was pretty sure he was covertly offering me pot).

CEO: Do you want to hear Puff the magic dragon?

ME: Err…(still pretty sure he is going to slip me some shwag).

CEO: Peter Yarrow from Peter, Paul, and Mary is in our kitchen. Do you think the editorial team wants him to sing Puff the magic dragon?

ME: Well…(I can pretty much see our exhausted editorial team not going for this feel good moment.)

CEO: How about you meet him?

ME: Okay!

This is when we enter the kitchen and Peter Yarrow is helping my CEO’s wife, who is also our Editor in Chief, cut up a roasted chicken and serve salad. That’s when my CEO suggests he sing to us all upstairs. Peter comes over to me, holds my hands that are folded in the prayer position, kisses them, then holds them individually and starts singing “Leaving on a jet plane,” while dancing back and forth with me. I of course start singing along, mentioning that his famous tune was our farewell song at my summer camp. While still singing, he asks if I still go to summer camp, to which I reply no, though I would absolutely love to trade in my job as a magazine journalist for professional creepy old camper.

Then of course, while Peter is twirling me around, my CEO and Editor in Chief chime in and I’m pretty sure their baby garbled something too. It was like the Newport Folk Festival 2010 had a love child with my workday.

Perhaps not everyone’s jobs include a serenade from a folk star. Mine don’t usually. But I must say, it made a boring old Tuesday a heck of a lot more interesting!

: I have this on vinyl. Blowin’ in the wind still reminds me of being 14 and peeved that I couldn’t run around in bellbottoms in the mud because I came of age in the boring old ’90s rather than the flower power “clothing optional” era.

This is Peter today. He's a hell of a serenader, so if you're having a tough day, I recommend requesting a ditty. From what I could tell about his lunch plate, he likes chicken.