One Particular Harbor- September 2023

Jimmy Buffett, Animal Guides Upcoming Course, Writing Update, & so much more!

Sep 05, 2023

Good afternoon and welcome to a special edition of my newsletter!

Poet. Philosopher. Prognosticator. Preacher. Philanthropist. Pirate. Always Pirate. Jimmy Buffett.

Buffett’s music, more than any other, predominates the soundtrack of my life. He captures the coastal culture in which I grew up with the precision of a well-cast line into a school of fish. He gives voice to a world in which many of us aspire to live – where the biggest tragedy is losing a salt shaker.

Buffett died September 1 at age 76. My heart aches.

Jimmy Buffett gives us much more than feel-good tropical music. The universality of his songs is his greatest gift to us. He writes the kaleidoscope of emotions we all feel, the peak life experiences we all seek. From the thrill of sailing or flying a pontoon plane to the pain of loss in our lives, Buffett articulates emotions we find difficult to express. Not only does his music describe personal triumphs and tragedies, but global ones as well. For example, in four and a half minutes, his song The Prince of Tides offers an eloquent synopsis of Pat Conroy’s brilliant, massive novel of the same title about the destruction of home, family, environment, and culture:

Now I realize who killed the Prince of Tides.
How can you tell how it used to be when there’s nothing left to see?

He invites us to ponder his philosophy about living life to the fullest in Nautical Wheelers, suggesting we might want to live our lives in more than 3/4 time. I spent the Labor Day weekend after his death playing his extensive catalog. I asked myself questions about my relationship with time, and how I might live each day more fully. I’m working on the answer, and I invite you to think about your answer too. This song calls to mind lines from Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

As I approached my fortieth birthday, I asked friends for only one gift: a black pirate’s flag sporting a skull and crossbones, and the words A Pirate Looks at Forty written across the bottom. They complied, of course. Now, some years later, I’m still looking at forty, but from a different perspective. I hope I’ve grown wiser, but I’m not certain. What I do know, for sure, is that my love of that song, of Mother Ocean, and of the people whose presence bless my life, are even more precious to me now than when I was forty.

On the day after Buffett died, I spoke for a long time with my oldest friend. He and I grew up on an island together, and know what Trying To Reason with Hurricane Season means, both literally and metaphorically. We discussed Hurricane Idalia that just passed, the hurricanes our lives can become, and the emotional hurricanes we face as we age.

Buffett’s death hurts. I need him to be here to remind me to lighten up, to live in joy, and to be present in every moment. His death also hurts because it reminds me of the deaths of so many others. Buffett, Randy Meisner who died in July, and John Prine, who died in 2020 during the pandemic, were born the same year. Their work is on my life’s soundtrack too. They, too, remind me all I have is this moment.

Buffett’s death hurts because so many friends who loved him also are gone. My friend Queen Jean the Basket Weaver and Palm Reader adored him. I hope he’s singing to her and to so many others!

In my speech at my retirement party, I quoted these lines from Buffett’s Cowboy in the Jungle, and promised I would live into them:

Make the best of whatever comes your way
Forget that blind ambition
And learn to trust your intuition
Plowin' straight ahead come what may.

I’m still working on that promise. Perhaps Buffett’s philosophy that most influences how I see life is summed up in this line from He Went To Paris:

Some of it’s magic, and some of it’s tragic,
but I had a good life all the way.

But my life isn’t over. I have today. I need to do better. I need to be conscious that every moment is precious. I need to eat a cheeseburger in paradise with a cold draft beer, and know, for sure that Jolly Mon will “make the ocean ring.”

Meditation Thoughts

Many people have asked me to name my favorite Jimmy Buffett song. I can’t possibly do that, but this one is high on the list. It’s my meditation offering to you.

If you missed my last newsletter, you can read it here.

The Sound of Silence- August 2023

UPCOMING COURSE!

Interpreting YOUR Personal Messages from YOUR Animal Guides

Tuesday, September 12, 2023
2:00-3:30 PM Section OR 8:00-9:30 PM Section EASTERN US Time
Taught via Zoom
https://debbowen.com/product-category/new-category/

The deadline to register for this course is Friday, September 8 at 6:00 PM Eastern time

Hawk flies in front of your car. Dragonfly lands on your shoulder. Fox stares at you on your morning commute. Squirrel has something to tell you. Cardinal pecks at your window. Suddenly you’re seeing Dolphin on television, on the internet, on magazine covers – everywhere! What are they telling you? Not information you can read in books or online, but messages they bring uniquely to YOU? You also know that there is one – maybe more – guide for you from the “animal kingdoms,” but you aren’t sure you know who, or don’t know how to connect with them. You’ll learn how in this information-packed course.

If I’ve completed an Animal Guides Report for you, and you’d like to delve more deeply into the meaning of your Guides, this course is for you too!

https://debbowen.com/product-category/new-category/

Substack Gratitude!

I’m so grateful to other Substack writers who recommend my newsletter to their followers. I’ve suggested them to you before, but in case you don’t know them, please subscribe:

Writing Update

I’m excited about the works I have in progress, some of which I anticipate being published soon. In the meantime, you can view links to my published work on my website:
https://debbowen.com/author/

You also can click here to read my most recent creative nonfiction works, “Mending Nets” in Salvation South:
https://www.salvationsouth.com/mending-nets-north-carolina-barrier-island/?mc_cid=c4bb217ffc&mc_eid=fae2a9a622

And “A Talisman for Poseidon,” also in Salvation South:
https://www.salvationsouth.com/a-talisman-from-poseidon-hurricane-donna-1960/

Podcast

Deb’s Facebook Pages

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Deb Bowen, Author
PsychicTeachers
Witches of the Shore

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