Dear Tom Petty,

I hope no one minds if I take a moment and address another blond guy, Tom Petty.

I'm listening to his album "Wildflowers" right now. I've had this album since it first came out - I had the actual CD at some point but now it just lives on my iPod.

(I was 22 when this came out, probably driving around Malibu with a tall redhead in my 1986 Toyota Celica, wearing our Crown Books aprons, smoking cigarettes. Stupid, silly, romantic us.)

I read somewhere (on the Internet) that (I'm paraphrasing) some women require the sense of yearning for romantic satisfaction.

These songs, the tempos, the lyrics, Tom's voice: those things induce that feeling in me.

So, Tom Petty... what was your inspiration when you wrote these songs? All I can see from the personal history on your Wikipedia page is that in 1993 (while you were still married to someone else) you met the woman who would (three years later) become your second wife. Without knowing anything at all about anything... well. I wonder.

Anyway. Yearning. You never grow out of it, do you. It's not just for teenagers. Or women, apparently.

What can I do, but love you?

Hey, baby.

Love you,
Irene