The title above is a lyric from a song by Jimmy Buffett that was titled, “He Went to Paris,” and as I sometimes do when I hear certain song lyrics, I often feel some of them were directed specifically toward me.

In my nearly 72 years of life, I’ve had good times and bad, I’ve met many people I’ve loved and/or liked a lot, and there were some that I didn’t see eye to eye with, too. I’ve tried some things, (food, drink, opportunities, hobbies, relationships, and more), some I’ve liked more than others, and some I didn’t like much, or maybe, at all. There’ve been many of life’s surprise happenings, though, that made/make me feel like I won the lottery, I think. (Winning the lottery is still on my Bucket List. If it happens, I can truly compare the feeling.)

I’ve had the opportunity and privilege to meet many people in my life. I’ve been in situations with them maybe as a colleague, co-worker, fellow volunteer, an officiating partner on ballfields, a fellow church parishioner, a fan for the same baseball/football/college team, a neighbor, friend, student, player, or, in my younger days, a person whom I enjoyed being with, dating, having coffee with, or seeing a movie together. I was so lucky on March 23, 1979, to have met the most wonderful, beautiful person I could’ve ever met to spend my life with the past, nearly 45 years ago and counting. It’s truly been magic traveling thousands, and thousands, and even thousands more, miles together both literally and figuratively, in all the things we’ve done and accomplished. That relationship has given me three amazing children and their spouses, four grandsons and their girlfriends (one of them now a wife, another soon will be), two granddaughters (soon to officially add another), a great- grandson, and two “unofficially adopted”, but loved like they’re official, great granddaughters. It’s a blessing I never envisioned I’d ever be lucky enough to have in my life.

After high school, I was never sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I graduated from JHS in 1971. I went to JCC, and enrolled in their Fine Arts Program, still wondering what I wanted to do. Sometime during that period, I rewatched the movie To Sir with Love, starring Sidney Poitier. In my second year at JCC, I thought about becoming a teacher and was successful in pursuing my goal. My sister and brother were teachers, and eventually my little brother (R.I.P Dr. Bro) also became an educator. (Holiday dinners, later on, took on the look and sound of faculty meetings.)

When I got my degree in Education and began job searching, and after two years of subbing, I was finally lucky to be offered an opportunity to prove myself with a long-term subbing position. That ended up leading to a full-time teaching gig. I tell people I began teaching in the Leave it to Beaver Era (actually, it was later, but it was a time when there weren’t as many one-parent homes, different last names, and where the problems in school were more about not doing homework, not studying hard enough, or misbehaving in the cafeteria. There were fire drills and one emergency drill, but not the evacuation drills like there are today. So, I was very lucky in getting my opportunity to begin teaching when I did. Teaching gave me opportunities to coach Baseball, Football, and Softball, which I loved doing. Baseball and Football were, and still are, my favorite sports, so I took advantage of those available opportunities, and I’ll take all the memories of those experiences to my grave with me. Add to that mix, Baseball Officiating I was lucky to be a part of, and I proudly look back at fifty years of involvement and enjoyment in sports. For a Sports lover it was like Christmas was a three-month season, then it started over with the next sport. My career in teaching and coaching seemed to begin at the right time, and I took advantage of an early retirement offer, not because I wanted out, but because Jon was playing college ball, and I didn’t want to miss it, and I didn’t. I got to walk away from teaching proud of my 32 years in the classroom, and I got to watch my son’s college baseball career, as well. I got into education at a great time, and I got out at the right time (on my terms). Those parts of my life were definitely magical.

My life wasn’t all smooth sailing. I lost my dad at the young age of 69 in ’94. I lost my mom in ’06. I recently lost my Little Brother ten months ago last March. We lost both of Sally’s parents in ’02 and her nephew in ’06. I lost some special friends whom I loved dearly, and both Sally and I lost a dear pastor at our church when Father Mende passed away as well. I had heart stents implanted in ’14, and I fell, suffering a subdural hematoma in 2018. Neither were fun. Sally has some health situations, including a double knee replacement, a couple visits to the ER, a five-day hospital stay for some minor surgery which had a few complications, and she had a fall requiring head stitches. All those things did was make me fear, pray, and then appreciate more what I have.

These occurrences weren’t as tragic as others have endured, though I dearly miss those who’ve passed, but then I learned to cherish (as much as I feel/felt sad), and value the time I was privileged to have them be a part of my life. I have wonderful memories of all of them, but I’ll always admit, I wish they were still here with me. It also made me appreciate those still with me who have healed and recovered even more, and I am grateful that they did. As far as my health issues go, they were setbacks for a bit, but they let me appreciate those in healthcare who ministered to me, and the technology that was available to be there when I needed it. It also made me appreciate all I’ve been given in this life. Like everyone else, I’ve lost loved ones, lost opportunities I’ve wanted, I’ve faced health issues, I haven’t won the lottery (Yet?), and have also had the normal routine things we hate facing but do and survive (repairs, minor health issues, rising costs, and other piddly, irritating occurrences that happen in life), but I’ve always had a roof over my head, food on my table, clothes on my back, and wonderful people in my life. Looking at my life, I absolutely think Jimmy wrote the lyrics in today’s title, specifically for me, but then again, maybe he wrote them for all of us.