[Rhodes22-list] A Pirate Looks at 50

[Bob Weber]

Jim, Congrats on the milestone and thanks for the thoughts.  I couldn't help 
but think of a book I read a couple years back, you might enjoy it.  "A 
pirate turns 50" by Jimmy Buffet.  He will never make as much money as an 
author, but if you can bare the base literary style you will find it 
amusing. He had the same thoughts of "checking off" a few items he 
considered a must do in this lifetime.  Thow in a couple million of spending 
money and you got about the same thing.  His passions of sailing and flying 
equal mine and it kept comming up on my Amazon searches.  If you are opposed 
to buying books I would be happy to drop my copy in the mail, give my you 
mailing address back channel.  (call it a birthday gift).

Bob Weber

>From: Jim White <jdwhite at utpa.edu>
>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] A Pirate Looks at 50
>Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 08:56:48 -0500
>
>I woke up this morning staring 50 full in the face. I know it's a monument 
>birthday, a milestone, but somehow it doesn't seem a whole lot different 
>than turning over 50 miles on the odometer of my bike after I turn it back 
>to zero....only this time I can't turn it back to zero. So, I think it's 
>more like 50 miles an hour, just a gentle cruise with the wind in your 
>face.... Or maybe like sailing my boat single handed, an inevitable 
>slipping along to new or familiar places. Now it's simply the journey that 
>matters.
>
>  When I was young(er) I always had in the back of my mind the notion that 
>"when I'm young again.....", but in the past couple of years this notion 
>has faded, replaced by a sense of just traveling along on the water, trying 
>to avoid the shallows and sandbars, but learning nonetheless if you get 
>hung on one.
>
>There was no revelation following the tolling of the bells of my birth 
>hour, or enhancement of insight, I don't even think any of my hair went 
>grey(er), or I acquired any new wrinkles.
>
>No, today I don't feel maudlin or especially reflective, just thankful to 
>be here. All the cliches, like, "if I'd have known I was gonna live this 
>long, I would've taken better care of myself", just go out the window, and 
>I keep riding down the path. Although I'm certainly not going to score 
>highly on the list of "he who dies with the most toys wins" mentality, I do 
>have friends and family who've made this trip more than worthwhile, so the 
>material things take a distant back seat. And living here is like living in 
>the pages of a Steinbeck novel. I think that's the way it is with most 
>coastal communities, and I guess I'm just another character.
>
>So what's next? Well, just because I turned fifty doesn't mean any dreams 
>went out the window too. I still want to circumnavigate the Gulf and near 
>Caribbean, I want to take a monumental road trip or two, maybe visit some 
>places I've never been. But for right now, I plan on continuing sailing, 
>surfing, riding, diving, fishing,  taking care of business, exploring the 
>islands in my life, eating at D' Pizza Joint, drinking a little beer (maybe 
>a little rum too...), enjoying days like today, when the air smells like 
>the sea, and you can hear the waves crashing on the shoreline and all of 
>the other things that make up this crazy patchwork collage that I call my 
>life. Mostly I plan on enjoying the journey with my family and friends....
>
>Although I have never spoken to any of you personally, after having 
>interacted with many of you via this list, you all have been included, by 
>proxy in that collage.... .
>
>Cheers to you my fellow waterpeople
>jw
>
>
>Jim White
>Le Menagerie
>www.lemenagerie.blogspot.com
>
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