Another Trip Around the Sun

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:

Link to Trip Around the Sun - Jimmy Buffett & Martina McBride

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.

Here I'm singin' happy birthday

Better think about the about the wish I make

This year gone by ain't been a piece of cake

Indeed, this last year has not been a piece of cake - in a double entendre sort of way.  Both my in-laws passed away in 2020, and a large portion of the past 18 months has been spent emptying their home and barns of their possessions.  It has been no small feat, both emotionally and physically, and I've written about that in my blog.  Thankfully, our children are old enough to stay at home alone, as Lori and I have spent countless weekends in Hanover doing the work required.  Thanks to an excellent realtor we're working with, the home is now beautiful and under contract to close this week.

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!

Everyday's a revolution

Pull it together and it comes undone

Just one more candle and a trip around the sun

I'm just hangin' on while this old world keeps spinning

And it's good to know it's out of my control

If there's one thing that I've learned from all this livin'

Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go

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.

No you never see it comin'

Always wind up wonderin' where it went

Only time will tell if it was time well spent

It's another revelation

Celebrating what I should have done

With these souvenirs of my trip around the sun

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.

I'm just hangin' on while this old world keeps spinning

And it's good to know it's out of my control

If there's one thing that I've learned from all this livin'

Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go

Yes I'll make a resolution

That I'll never make another one

Just enjoy this ride on my trip around the sun

Just enjoy this ride

So as the song wraps up, I am drawn back to the video Jimmy and Martina made.  The contrasts are good examples: Jimmy flying his plane, enjoying the spoils of his labor, living his dream.  Meanwhile, Martina hangs out on the beach-access walkway.  But eventually, both families are together, enjoying a low-country meal, and some songs by the beachside fire.  

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.