The warm summer breezes, The French wines and cheeses

I love stories and Jimmy Buffett is a darn good story teller. I’ll concede that many of his stories are simply a glorification of self and living a hedonistic lifestyle, however if you can get over the “Margarittaville” and the “Why don’t we get drunk and screw” you will find a worthwhile collection of stories. Part of the reason I love Jimmy Buffett is the nostalgia that it stirs up… the smell of sweat and diesel fuel as I worked on the sailboat with my dad, the smell of fresh mulch as we observed the “pseudo” family tradition of spreading mulch over memorial day weekend, or simply playing around the house. Many of my early memories have the tunes of Paul Simon, Jimmy Buffet, Billy Joel, Elton John, or perhaps the Oakridge Boys as their background. But I digress… The main point of this blog is to draw attention to one of, if not the best, (at least lyrically) Jimmy Buffett songs.

I encourage you to listen to the song before you read any more of this blog. Here is a link to a youtube video featuring the song “He Went to Paris” by Jimmy Buffett.

I could probably write multiple posts on this song (and I may), but for now I will focus on the lines, “The warm summer breezes, the French wines and cheeses, put his ambitions at bay” and there relevance to my current place in this life.

Now that I am working (not quite full time, since I’m still a grad student, but working none the less) and making my own money, I am starting to really feel the pull of the warm summer breezes, the French wines and cheeses, and I fear that they are starting to put some of my ambitions at bay. I have come to hold vacation up to an almost god-like status, or if it isn’t vacation it is simply the weekend. I spend most of my days dreaming about what I will do with those moments in which I don’t have to do anything, the warm summer breezes, the French wines and cheeses… I have this nagging thought that I was once a very ambitious guy, I was ready to take on the world’s problems. I look back at Hunter from freshmen year of college, and sure I see a lot of immaturity, but I also see a lot of unbridled ambition. I see a freshman at University of Illinois that might have actually believed that he could be the Daniel that brought the kingdom of Babylon to belief in the one true living God, the freshman that wanted to take on the AIDS crisis, and felt so much compassion for the suffering. I’m not sure what happened to that guy. I know he has grown up a lot, he has experienced things that he didn’t count on, but he’s not necessarily living the life he thought he would.

All of this brings me to a decision that I have recently made, that will helpfully lead me to recover some of that freshmen year at U of I Hunter. I’m probably being a little over dramatic hear, so I hope you aren’t expecting anything too spectacular.

I will be moving out of my apartment in about one month. I will be moving in with 4 guys from my church that live near downtown Raleigh. I am thrilled to live with Christian brothers again, and I am really excited to live closer to an actual urban area, but that being said there were certainly many hurdles keeping me from deciding to move. I thank God that he has stirred up the desire to move. I will be moving to a duplex in which I will have so much less living space that I am guessing I will need to rent public storage space to accommodate at least 50% of my possessions, which leads me to the obvious question, why the heck do I have all of this stuff? On top of this the area that I will be moving to is quite literally on the boundary line. The duplex is basically situated on the economic, class, and racial boundary line. You can look to the east and see prostitutes walking the streets or you can look to the west and see (from my estimations) half million dollar homes, with perfectly manicured lawns, elaborate landscaping, wind chimes, security systems, lexus SUVs, multiple refrigerators, finished basements, flat screen TVs, country club memberships, braces, boats, beach houses, etc….

I’m hoping and praying that this new home will allow me to let go of some of those summer breezes, French wines and cheeses (as much as I love them), and allow me to restore some of those ambitions that may have been put at bay.