I felt shock when I saw the headline that Jimmy Buffett had died at 76. He seemed like someone enjoying life who would never grow old, never die. Margaritaville still sounds fresh and the singalong lyrics are never far away. Jimmy Buffett was the epitome of summer, the ocean, tropical breezes; his music even made a snowy winter’s day seem less cold.

Margaritaville was never my favorite Jimmy Buffett song. That was Come Monday, that romantic wistful song that is oddly enough set on Labor Day weekend (which is this weekend in America). Who wouldn’t want to hear the words that “come Monday, it’ll be all right/come Monday, I’ll be holding you tight?”

Besides writing music, Jimmy Buffett also wrote books and “was one of only six writers, along with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and William Styron, to top both The Times’s fiction and nonfiction best-seller lists.” (From NY Times obituary of Jimmy Buffett.) And despite presenting a laid back persona, he was a successful entrepreneur.

Thank you for the gift of so many wonderful songs and words, Mr. Buffett.