Trip Around The Sun

OK, I am a Jimmy Buffett fan, you may have noticed this a time or two in these little observations before.  He makes me think, and just today, the song I used as a title fits best what is on my mind (it's a Jimmy Buffett/Martina McBride collaboration).  Just how do you put this birthday thing in perspective?

Sure, the first thought is I'm glad to be here.  What follows is a question--why?  Well, aren't we all glad to be surviving?  Isn't that the evolutionary thing?  We are driven to survive, and making another year is worth celebrating, no matter what.  As my sister says, I wake up and I'm glad to have another day.  But Jimmy's song tackles something more:  

Hear 'em singing Happy Birthday 
Better think about the wish I made.

Do you remember making a specific wish?  Not me, my thought is I probably wished for another year, that's all.  Does that birthday wish focus on anything long-term?  Usually, it arises out of a short-term thought you have.  "I want this, or I hope that..."  The longer term look at things to me is about the people  you manage to keep around you in your life.  Some of them are family, people who are patient and stay around whether you have paid your dues or not. They put up with your inconsistency, your divided attention and your wandering (both literally and figuratively), but in the end, here they remain.  Thanks to all of you.

This year gone by ain't been a piece of cake 
Every day's a revolution 
Pull it together and it comes undone 
Just one more candle and a trip around the sun

Did you wish for an easy year, something you'd easily manage? Pulling it together just never seems to work out as you planned. Mostly, I have tried to roll along and keep the right people (friends) around me if I can.  We run across fine people, and if we are lucky, we can keep them around, but we're just hanging on as things work out--we aren't in control.  The world spins and we aren't in charge. As Jimmy sees it, it's just the same.    

I'm just hanging 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 living 
Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go

But Jimmy adds something, he notes that all his effort to control things doesn't change a thing.  He can change very little, so letting go makes sense.  

Did I do the right things?  Did I spend my time well?  Heck, I don't know.  I know there are some great things that happened to me at just the right time.  Did I spend my time well?  I think so, but you know what?  I just know it flew by.  You don't have time to second-guess.  What you did you did, what you spent your time on you spent.  I may have a bruise or two and a scar or two, but all in all, I have enjoyed and I look forward to another.  Jimmy adds a thought or two--

No, you never see it coming  
Always wind up wondering 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.

What I should have done--is that something I can celebrate?  Only time will tell.  

So, should I make a wish or resolution this year?  I wonder...  I'd mostly like to keep on going and see what's around the next bend. Here's Jimmy's take--

  

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 ...  
Until it's done

Yes, make a resolution--not to make another one.  At this point in my life, I can agree, but I wonder if things would have worked out as they have if I had never made a resolution or decided to pursue something I saw in front of me, even if it was beyond my grasp.