There is a certain mystique about my beautiful Island home that is hard to describe. It is a place that people love to hate and hate to love. For reasons unknown. It gets in your blood. In your system. Then before you know it, you are drawn in. And can’t let go.

In 1980, just before he died, John Lennon sailed with his young son, Sean, to Bermuda through tempestuous seas. Allegedly afraid he would not make it. His journey was so rough. But he fought his way through the rough ocean and landed in paradise.

Legend has it John fell deeply in love with the mystique that is Bermuda. He had not written a song in five years. But what he did not realize was the tumultuous journey across the ocean was the beginning of his journey to tapping into his creative juices. Opening him up to see all that he had. And to be grateful for his abundance. The journey preparing him for the metamorphosis he was about to experience.

So much so that when he landed in Bermuda and saw colours unlike anywhere else in the world his whole being came alive again. Legend has it that he walked through our picturesque Botanical Gardens and came across a tiny freesia flower called Double Fantasy and fell in love. As he examined that flower, lyrics to songs came into his head for the first time in five years. So much so that he wrote some of his best solo songs while on the Island. Allowing him to compose an entire album before he died and he called that album Double Fantasy in honour of his time in Bermuda.

Last evening my family and I attended the dedication in the Botanical Gardens of a sculpture created by one of our finest artists, Graham Foster, to honour John Lennon. It was a hot and muggy evening, the first day of summer showing us just how unforgiving the summer heat in Bermuda can be. Despite the heat, people gathered from all walks of life to honour John Lennon.

As I looked around the audience, up at the clear blue sky, the sound of birds chirping, the smiles that spread on everyone’s faces when Graham’s amazing sculpture was unveiled, I was reminded as John Lennon probably was all those years before when he wandered around the very gardens we stood in last night, “All we need is love, love, love. Love is all we really need.”

John Lennon was tragically shot in front of his apartment building but the legacy he left behind will live on forever because he understood in his last days that love is all we really need. Allowing himself to open like the petals of the flower. Tapping into the succulence that lives within us all. Revealing the man he was always meant to be. Writing without abandon.

As I walked through the gallery, reading song after song that John composed while in Bermuda, I could feel the love pouring out of his soul. The release and relief he felt knowing he was still capable of loving. I could feel his energy in the room. And I knew and understood his life may have been tragically cut down before we believed was his time but he had tapped into the magic of his soul and had lived his last days full of love of self and others. How many of us can say the same? Love is all we really need.

***About Catherine Duffy – A woman in search of truth. A wife trying to love unconditionally. A mother trying to raise good citizens. A writer bursting through. Enjoying life’s journey.  Catherine can be found @duffy_catherine and on her blog from Bermuda · http://bermudacat.blogspot.com.