The One Hour Time Machine January 15, 2011
Posted by nrhatch in Blogging, People, Travel & Leisure.comments closed
I signed up to receive the Post~A~Day 2011 prompts from WordPress a few weeks ago and Scott Berkun has tossed out some fun ideas to bloggers who need ideas to stay current with the challenge.
My favorite so far was yesterday’s prompt:
It’s been a blast thinking about going back (or forward) in time.
I could head to Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and meet Susannah North Martin, one of 19 accused witches hung during those troubled times.
Susannah, a feisty widow with a sharp wit, is my great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother on my father’s side.
In the 19th century, poet John Greenleaf Whittier composed “The Witch’s Daughter” about Martin.
Let Goody Martin rest in peace, I never knew her harm a fly,
And witch or not – God knows – not I?
I know who swore her life away;
And as God lives, I’d not condemn
An Indian dog on word of them
In my teens, long before I knew about my relationship with Susannah, I wrote a story about traveling back in time to Salem Village during the Witch Hysteria. This WP challenge could be my chance to meet Susannah and shake up those straight-laced Puritans with real witchcraft . . . time travel.
Or maybe I could travel farther back in time to meet Jesus of Nazareth and hear his Sermon on the Mount or watch him walk on water or turn water into wine . . .
What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s happening. What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s happening.
What about traveling back to Jolly Old England to meet Charles Dickens or Jane Austen? Or Shakespeare. Imagine meeting the Bard himself.
I’d dearly love to travel back to the days of my youth and spend time with my grandparents and Great Aunt Edie.
Perhaps a day at Turtle Back Zoo? Or a picnic at Deer Lake or Mayapple Hill? Or an hour on the beach in Kennebunkport Maine?
Or go back to hang out with my first dog, Muffin, a short-tempered Cocker Spaniel who died before I got to say good-bye.
What if I went back to college and spent an hour at the Hoi Polloi dancing to the tunes of the time, and flirting with all my crushes like there was no tomorrow ~ because there wouldn’t be.
There won’t be a morning after
I’ll be gone before the morn
What about revisiting one of the best days of my life ~ my wedding day, or the day BFF proposed, or our honeymoon. Sweet!
Of course, if I had the chance to inhabit my twenty something body for an hour, returning to the body I currently inhabit might be a bit of a let down.
What if I went back to high school to tell “past me” something that would make the rest of “her” life easier ~ like “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff,” or “Less is More,” or . . . “Buy Microsoft stock.”
What about heading into the future?
I could visit the last hour of my life to find out when and where I would die.
Having that type of definitive time stamp might help me better utilize and prioritize the time I have remaining.
Or fast forward a hundred years to see if mankind stalled global warming by putting PLANET before PROFIT and GREEN before GREED.
Hmm . . . what if I saw that things were worse, rather than better? That might be a horrifying bit of knowledge to bring back to the present.
One thing I do know ~ if I had the chance to go back in time, to live my life over from that point forward, taking with me what I now know, I would not be interested. Life with its twists and turns has led me to this moment ~ right here, right now. I would not be who I am today if not for the experiences of yesterday and yesteryear. I’m not interested in a “Do Over” because “who I am is who I want to be.”
But the chance to go back or forward for one hour? Without having to pack, or go through airport security? That would be the opportunity of a lifetime . . . if only I could pick which opportunity of a lifetime appeals the most.
What about you? Where would you go? And why?
Quote: Make the most of this moment . . . you’ll never pass this way again.
No rules. Just write!
Related posts: Time Travel * Transformation & Reclamation * Captain Sinbad and Captain Lovegood * We Travel Best When We Travel Light * Fantasy Dinner Party Challenge
Spirit Lights The Way 