Time Travelling Gramps

I was up at two in the morning doing things that Old Men in their sixties do. The whole house was quiet. I sat in Laura Gail’s bathroom (yes, she owns it) and tried not to fall asleep. The eight-dollar Walmart clock on the wall a mere three feet away ticked the minutes away loudly. It’s amazing how loud a mechanical clock is when there’s no other competing noise to diffuse its regular counting of the seconds. I’d left the light off and the door open (yes, we have THAT kind of relationship after nearly fourteen years together. She was also asleep. We have limits) and I didn’t bring my phone. It wasn’t going to be that kind of a pit stop. I was surprised when I went back to bed that I’d been in there about thirty minutes. I hadn’t actually counted the clock ticks whilst I had sat there, but it really hadn’t seemed that long. Time plays tricks on us Old Men and kids. 

With the dawn of a new year, we all look forward to new opportunities. The chance to meet new people, see new places and taste life differently. We step into the future like Neil Armstrong putting that first footprint on the moon, thinking “it’s MY time, My turn for greatness!”  While I applaud your attitude, I would like to remind you that Neil got there with a whole lot of help, training, and preparation. No future accomplishments are going to happen by accident. The comedian Jimmy Carr likes to say “the life you want is on the other side of the work you’re avoiding.” A very honest and simple explanation of why most people never realize their “New Year’s Resolutions” or follow through with their dreams in general. It also explains why I’m still fat and smoking. Ugh. I hate it when I’m right. 

Crossing the imaginary calendar line into 2026 doesn’t have the same excitement for me as, say, 1999 did. Of course, the whole world was waiting for the end of that one. The End being Near, and all. I watched the clock tick by that night as I worked at the Fed Ex Hub in Memphis, throwing packages all night. The only extraordinary thing that happened that night was that nothing happened. We were all suckered. Sigh. 

The thing we missed is the same thing that we always miss: we travelled in time. Our species has been contemplating time travel for at least the last century. The books, short stories, tv shows, and movies have all examined it’s possibilities. To go forward, or back, in time is a pretty neat trick that I guess we’d all love to give a shot. I just don’t want to end up like Marty McFly and have my hot mom come onto me. That part creeps me out. His mom was pretty hot, though. My point (if I must have one after all that) is that we are experiencing “Time Travel” every day, including when the “Ball Drops” at Times Square. We just seem so darned impressed to see that ticker start over on January First that we forget that every day can be like that. 

 Time travel isn’t impossible. As a matter of fact, you’re doing it right now. The hard reality is that you can only go from the present to the future, and you must experience it all in “real time” but that doesn’t make it any less of a miracle. The beauty of it all is that you can make your dreams and aspirations happen without having to “go back” in time. You can start right now, in the present, and make them happen within your future lifetime.  

Now let’s get going. Happy New Year! 

God Bless Ya’ll!