Yesterday, I turned 57. I'm a sentimentalist and enjoy reviewing old memories, be they photographs, videos, letters, emails, blog posts, or even social media posts. So it's time to reflect and put another stake in the ground about what I was thinking on October 3, 2021.
This year's birthday is especially memorable as it comes exactly one month after I first noticed the song "Trip Around the Sun," sung by Jimmy Buffett and Martina McBride. Lori and I were spending a weekend at Emerald Isle, NC, and would often play the Jimmy Buffett station on Sirius XM. I'd heard this song many times in the background over the past year or so but finally noticed the lyrics last month, while driving back to our hotel on Route 58, at night, with the top down on the convertible, on a beautiful September evening, riding next to the love of my life and best friend.
Here's the video, which was appropriately filmed in Charleston, SC:
This song has caused me to reflect quite a bit on life, and how fleeting it is. I spent the first half of my adult life dreaming of living on an island and running a Caribbean beach bar tiki hut without a care in the world. You know, sort of like the stories Jimmy Buffett's songs portray on a regular basis. In the second half of my adult life, reality set in, and my dreams turned to raising our 3 sons to be responsible adults and making ends meet by managing a family budget while trying to advance my career and manage my weight. Now, this most recent "trip around the sun" introduced what I guess will be the "third half" of my adult life: retirement, health, aging, and perhaps being grandparents someday.
And then there was COVID. What a pain that has been for everyone.
The other "piece of cake" "this year gone by" "ain't been" is literally, the nice large piece of cake I don't (can't) have due to the bariatric surgery I had in September 2020. It's all good, however. I can still have a small piece!
These lyrics remind me how out of control we really are in life. Sure, we can control a lot of our destiny by working hard, planning, budgeting, and praying. I'm a firm believer in that. But there is peace in knowing that we can't control everything. There needs to be room in our lives for divine guidance - or destiny, if you prefer - to chart our course. First, it makes life more interesting, and second, it gives us opportunities to grow and learn when dealing with life by reacting to circumstances instead of always trying to define them.
Ouch. This reminds me of the many deathbed quotes that we've all heard in various forms. "No one ever said on their deathbed, 'I wish I'd spent more time on my business." Or accumulating money. Or buying stuff. Indeed, the most valuable currency in life is time, and "only time will tell if it was time well spent." This is a reminder that the "souvenirs" we collect are no match for the memories we collect during the valuable time well spent with our loved ones and friends.
As I embark upon my 58th trip around the sun, I want to be sure to enjoy those times that are not just tied to the souvenirs I collect on my journey. But also enjoy family and friends, thankful for the fact that I can still walk up and down stairs without holding onto the railing.
