Looking Back from Where I Came (Especially for My Girls)

Again, I am reminded that the score to the life I wish I had lived up to this point and the life I hope to lead in the future is captured in the bars, tempo and stanzas of the collected works of Buffett. I truly need to learn to read sheet music before I die……

Image and Video: https://youtu.be/iwsXyB25hVs

Interesting fact:

“A recent scientific survey suggests that one in four MacDonalds can trace their origins back to Somerled. Only one man has more living descendents, and that man is Genghis Khan.”

Image and words:  http://www.scotlandnow.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/heritage/scottish-clans-story-behind-macdonald-3517494

Where to even begin…….This one image has so many threads that are woven into a fabric that produces a visually and palatably beautiful tapestry, as well as, a tactile touch that is both comforting and soothing.  I guess the best place to begin is with the significance of where this represents the past.

From https://www.islayinfo.com/finlaggan_clan_donald.html:

It is no joy without Clan Donald;
it is no strength to be without them;
the best race in the round world,
To them belongs every goodly man.
The noblest race of all created,
in whom dwelt prowess and terribleness;
a race to whom tyrants bowed,
In whom dwelt wisdom and piety.

The staves of the Gaelic lament by the Mac-Mhuirich Bard in the Book of the Dean of Lismore at the loss of the MacDonald Lords still echo through the Isles. The line of the Great Sea-Lord Somerled, with whom the history of the western seaboard in the Middle Ages began, has run its course, and with the death of Angus Og at Finlaggan in 1490, it has, for all intents, met its tragic end. The Lordship, that vast, eternal sea kingdom, with its heart in ancient Finlaggan, has faded to near obscurity. But let there be no dirge for the Lost Lordship, no retrospective on the place of the Lords of the Isles in Scottish history – what’s here at Finlaggan is history, a pervading sense of the political and social ambience that underscored the significance and magnificence of the place in the medieval Gaelic seaworld.

If it were solely from this heritage, recently revealed to me, this single bottle would represent one of the most prized possessions of Scotch I have or have had.  However, there are other threads to this cloth that endears this particular bottle deeply to my soul – more on those later.

As I continue on this journey, my belief that Destiny employs Serendipity as our tour guides for life grows ever stronger.  In reflection, odd coincidences are made to look completely connected.  String enough of these seemingly disconnected pieces and moments of your life so far together and you can see a path forming.  Be open to them and look for them in the future and they will be a compass.  There must be a reason why such serendipitous events occur.  One of my most recent and revealing brushes with Serendipity strikes very close to home – literally.  Over a year ago, I purchased a bottle of Laphroaig Scotch without knowing very much about it.  I bought it just to try another bottle.  The purchase of the bottle entitled me to the opportunity to join the Friends of Laphroaig.  Said membership would include a small 1 foot by 1 foot plot on the Laphroaig property assigned to me.  The thought of having anything associated with me actually in Scotland was enough to cause me to sign up.  In the above photo, you can see the Lat/Long position of my plot.  Unbeknownst to me, accepting this offer tied me even more closely to my roots and destiny than I could have imagined.  Thanks the the gentle education of the Scotch Siren, I came to realize that my family name traced back to the Isle of Islay – and specifically, the Clan MacDonald had a ancestral castle on the southern end at Dunyvaig.  Imagine my happy surprise when I realized how close my chosen plot at the Laphroaig property was to Dunyvaig.  I can not begin to tell you how thrilled I was at that moment and continue to be amazed at the happy fortune of these two separate, yet conjoined, events.

Like so many other Gulf-Coastal natives, I claim Jimmy Buffett as a native son.  So much of his music was a constant for me growing up and still speaks to me today.  The themes of his songs – care-free, tropical, adventorous, living life to the fullest – represented so much that I always thought was just beyond my grasp but oh so sought after.  His ability to use lyrics, words and turn of phrases, I found inspiring, insightful and, yes, intelligent in its way.  The song above, “Happily Ever After (Now and Then)” is one such song.  It’s not about constant elation, it’s about reaching the peak just enough times to be content.

https://goo.gl/images/ZVkpPZ