A Pirate Looks at Thirty

So I turn the big 3-0 today.  It's a fun opportunity to reflect upon three decades and the highs (there have been a lot) and the lows (a few painful ones no doubt) that I've been through.  The feeling that most describes the day for me today is gratitude for all that I've been blessed with.  An amazing set of parents.  A terrific brother who I've gotten a lot closer with in the last year.  An awesome set of friends both here and in Minneapolis (as well as other places around the country and even the world now).  Some pretty cool skills and talents which I'm just figuring out how to best use in this crazy world.  A level of material comfort that many people (especially those in Africa and other impoverished parts of the world) would love.  And most of all, a sense that my life is on course and that even though I don't know exactly how it's going to unfold I'm heading in the right direction and most importantly, doing the right things for the right reasons. 

I took a hike this morning (glorious day here in SoCal) and had Jimmy Buffett songs running through my head for some reason.  He does have one song called "A Pirate Looks at Forty" which I like (hence the title of this blog post) but the one that was sticking with me today was one called "He Went To Paris."  Here are the lyrics:

He went to paris lookin’ for answers
To questions that bothered him so
He was impressive, young and aggressive
Savin’ the world on his own

But the warm summer breezes
The french wines and cheeses
Put his ambition at bay
The summers and winters
Scattered like splinters
And four or five years slipped away

Then he went to england, played the piano
And married an actress named kim
They had a fine life, she was a good wife
And bore him a young son named jim

And all of the answers and all of the questions
Locked in his attic one day
’cause he liked the quiet clean country livin’
And twenty more years slipped away

Well the war took his baby, the bombs killed his lady
And left him with only one eye
His body was battered, his whole world was shattered
And all he could do was just cry

While the tears were a-fallin’ he was recallin’
Answers he never found
So he hopped on a freighter, skidded the ocean
And left england without a sound

Now he lives in the islands, fishes the pilin’s
And drinks his green label each day
Writing his memoirs, losin’ his hearin’
But he don’t care what most people say

Through eighty-six years of perpetual motion
If he likes you he’ll smile and he’ll say
Jimmy, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic
But I had a good life all the way

And he went to paris lookin’ for answers
To questions that bothered him so

It's really an amazing song as far as I'm concerned.  It reminds me that we're each going to have a story to tell one day.  Some of it will be magic.  Some it will be tragic.  And when I'm 86 (or 96 or 106!) I want to be able to look back and say that I had a good life all the way.  In the words of another 70s crooner (Joe Walsh) life's been good to me so far.  And I feel, more than I have in a long time, like life's just getting started for me.  So much lies ahead and since I've got another 94 years or so on this planet I know that a lot more adventure is in store. 

Thank you. Muchas gracias. Namaste. 

The best is yet to come.