MMTT4S - Hurricane Coping Advice. Part 2

My last post shared a wise, age-old, proven technique from Jimmy Buffett for dealing with catastrophe – Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On. Simple to say, not always simple to do.

Just because it is hurricane season, however, doesn’t mean catastrophe is inevitable. So, how do we coastal residents handle severe weather preparedness without letting our anxiety spin out of control (in a counter-clockwise motion since we’re in the northern hemisphere)?

Let’s turn to our Sage of Somewhere Hot for a suggestion or two.

In today’s song, appropriately named “Trying to Reason withHurricane Season,” Buffett seems to be briefly journaling about a Key West Sunday spent recovering from a typical Key West Saturday, while “squalls out on the Gulf Stream” are signaling nasty weather on the way.

If you’re one of those old salts who consider hurricane prep old hat and you’re just too old school, and really just too darn old, to panic and leave, then you might subscribe to Buffett’s way of dealing with tropical storms, at least on this particular day. 

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What’s the first thing Jimmy does when he predicts a “big storm coming soon?” Like any Weather Channel-worshipping whipper-snapper, Jimmy hits the hammock. He naps, or passes out more precisely. For a nice-long snooze, too.  Then, just to confirm his lack of anxiety, he heads next door to the bar, probably Louie’s Back Yard (as he refers to it in some of his live versions) for a Bloody Mary. Not a hurricane of the cocktail sort, mind you, but a Bloody Mary. He did just wake up, after all, and I guess hurricane cocktails are rather touristy anyway. As a matter of fact, Jimmy’s only real concern at this moment is if he’ll have to focus on anything outside of his immediate and up-close vicinity. Yep – obvious symptoms of Key West day-after vision impairment. Well, that and the stumbling.

So, it would seem that Jimmy isn’t all that concerned with the possibility of a hurricane. If you’re in the southern Keys, though, there probably aren’t many places to run and hide. Given the state of storm tracking technology back in the 70s as compared to today, Buffett’s reaction is probably a little more commonplace for the time…and place.

Then, Jimmy becomes a little pensive and reflects on his Key West lifestyle, realizing he must slow down at some point. His pace must have been a little fast because he mentions needing some rest and feeling tired more than once. Back in the 70s and even the 80s, Key West was an ideal place to tie one on and the sleep it off. Buffett and his music were heavily influenced by the Key West scene, and vice versa. It seemed to suit his song line. 

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Well, Jimmy catches a brief second wind while strolling down A1A and knows he needs to take advantage of it. So, in the midst of impending inclement weather, Jimmy pens this song while sitting all alone on the beach. Not a bad spot to write a song. Not a bad spot, period.

Unless it’s storming!

Finally, high winds, white caps, and waterspout conditions send Jimmy in to close the shutters and hunker down. No plywood or duct tape. Just a songwriter with a pen and paper, on the way back from a hangover, possibly working his way into a new one, and dreaming of an upcoming trip to Paris. Much like hurricanes have always cleaned out the land in their paths, Jimmy’s insanely paced moments of wallowing in folly clean out his brain and allow him to move on.

Let’s just hope that catastrophe will not strike this summer, whether you prepare with a Bloody Mary or a weather radio and chart. It’s a given, though, that hurricanes will come and go again at some point. When that happens, turn on a Buffett tune (and maybe The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore, possibly muted) and move on. May I suggest something from Buffett's 1975 album A1A?

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MMTT4S - Hurricane Coping Advice, Part 1

Today is the official first day of summer, my favorite time of year. Maybe I'll have a chance to discuss some of the many reasons why I do so enjoy summertime at some point, but today I'm blowing dark clouds into our bright, sunny skies. Massive storm clouds all gathered up, looming, and rotating. Without further ado, I bid you...

Happy Hurricane Season!

From June 1st to November 30th, eastern and southern U.S. coastal residents have the great pleasure of existing in the official Atlantic Hurricane Season. For those who live or have property along the Eastern Seaboard or along the Gulf Coast, this time of year can be unnerving on occasion. Anxiety levels rise and fall like the tides. A watchful eye is subconsciously and intermittently kept on forecasts.

Image courtesy of www.nhc.noaa.gov

I remember listening to my grandfather's NOAA weather radio when we summered at his house, the Surf Pearl, in Surfside, SC.  Pappy, tan and shirtless, would sit at his spot at the dinner table and check the forecast regularly, and if a tropical depression formed out in the Atlantic, he'd bring out the tracking charts, pencils and rulers. Whenever that happened, I remember being scared and excited at the same time, and thinking, "This is pretty cool." It was cool...until we were chased inland and our summertime quarters declared off-limits. I recall helping my dad board up windows, affix a giant "x" with tape across sliding glass doors, and secure everything we could find that might get loose. Then we'd quickly pack up and head west, back to our ho-hum habitat away from the beach. It's a part of life on the coast.

Nowadays, technology has taken the "fun" out of tracking hurricanes. In the name of convenience and progress, all the work is done for us. No charts, pencils, rulers required. A battery-operated weather radio is still a smart possession, though. While I'm sure we're safer today, and damage and loss has been greatly reduced because of better technology, my child-like wonder and thrill has taken a hit. I felt like I was doing something back then, like I was a part of the process. Now, I just react to experts, trusting their research and predictions.

Dealing with the aftermath of destruction, in this case from hurricanes, can be tricky. Catastrophe can cause hopelessness, despair, anger, sorrow, pain. Do you mourn? Cry? Throw blame around? Give up? Pray? Curse? Do you relocate or rebuild? Do you lend a hand or take care of your own? It's difficult to know unless you experience it firsthand.

Image Courtesy of www.nnvl.noaa.gov

Jimmy Buffett offered up a song after Katrina devastated south Florida and Louisiana's Gulf Coast back in August of 2005. The catastrophic category 5 hurricane left a wake of death and destruction in its path. Homes, businesses, and lives were taken. Some areas simply washed away. When the nation struggled dealing with the devastation, Buffett sang his advice for coping in "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On."


I love this song. It's not one you'd hear in concert; It would be quite out of place accompanying a sea of sunburned, grass-skirt adorned, pain-free partyers bouncing beach balls and dropping in and out of makeshift conga lines. That's fine with me. While I do enjoy Buffett's standards, his "Songs You Know By Heart," many of my favorites are his more obscure, less anthemic offerings. This is one of those songs and it can be found on the album Take the Weather With You.

Basically, as the title suggests, Jimmy reminds us to not live in the past - it's "dead and gone," and instead, to live in the present. He introduces his idea with a clever anecdote about buying a watch that seemingly doesn't work. Surely he was duped. After all, it has no "numbers or moving hands." It only says "Now." He realizes that "this watch is never wrong," though, and it serves him well when considering how and when to move on - "the time is now." After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. To complete his counsel on handling tragedy, he suggests not trying to explain or shake it, but rather "nod your head," "bow your head," "breathe in, breathe out, move on."

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I'm reminded of a scene from one of my favorite movies, Castaway, in which Tom Hanks' character, Chuck Noland, describes his mindset after thinking he'd never see the love of his life again because he was shipwrecked on a deserted island, only to defy the odds to return home and find that he'd lost her all over again to another man. All alone on that island and learning he controlled nothing, he discovered that he simply had to stay alive, to keep breathing - and that is what he must continue doing after coming home and losing his girl all over again. He says he must "keep breathing, because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?"

Truth.

Not bad advice, if you ask me.

If this is just a little too somber for your summer mood, we'll look at another option at dealing with hurricanes next time. Until then...breathe in, breathe out, move on.

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