James at 62

When I was 22 years old, a very good friend of mine cried when I told her I could see no reason to live past the age of 31. Yeah, I was a dick. I did not die at 31 and I gotta say, I’m glad I didn’t.

Of course, I very well could’ve. By the time I reached the ripe old age of 31, I’d been a rock star for 4 years. I owned a 24/7, 8 track/32 channel analog recording studio, a pirate radio station and had a healthy (?) appreciation of illegal substances. My life was on fire and I had no intention of putting that shit out.

It was 1995, I’d been around the world on mainstream music’s dime, I was the center of the independent media scene in the Pacific Northwest with a 75 watt mobile micro-radio station, I rode a bike through the rain drenched hills of Seattle, I was sexy as a motherfucker so I said, “burn, baby burn!”

Then something profound happened…Love and Life.

I believe if life is viewed through greed, you will make money and perhaps that will make you happy for a while. If life is viewed through ambition, you will succeed, and that can be thrilling. But if life is viewed through love and adventure, you will fall in love with life and never want it to end.

I somehow sloughed off the chains of greed and false ambition and ended up viewing life through the wide angle of love and the adventure that brings…through travel and cultural observation…through the love of life as viewed through a partnership. And I never want it to end!

And here I am, 40 years after my own personal doom-foretold, on another boat (S/V SN-E Cetacea), thirty-thousand nautical miles and almost 30 years after my promises to my wonderful partner, Dena.

I’m loving my life with my incredible partner, my (all but useless) cat, my never-ending project of a sailing vessel… living and loving the only life I’ll ever have. James at 62.