Friday, May 6, 2011

Five Things on Friday - Time Machine Edition

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a local fundraiser. A guy I went with to high school was playing in the band and I thought, "If I had a time machine, one of the first things I'd do is go back and show his high school self how far the leather-clad have fallen." While the thought of that made me giggle uncontrollably for a while, it also got me thinking.

You see, it seems sort of selfish and silly. Surely, if I had a time machine the responsible thing to do with it would be to kill Hitler or explain Scarlet Fever to pioneers. Perhaps I could sneak in Mrs. O'Leary's barn and remove the lantern.

As anyone who is interested in SciFi knows, though, that's just big trouble. If you make changes that are too great to history, you completely alter the future. I may come back to find that I don't exist or that my kids don't exist or that our nation is a police state. You never know what effects even the smallest change might make on humanity. Have you seen Ashton Kutcher in Butterfly Effect?!?

So, keeping in mind that I would have to keep my actions small to limit their consequence on humanity, here are my

Five Things I'd Do with a Time Machine

How much joy your aqua
behind could bring.
1. Tell myself to keep my toys - Not only are all the things I played with in the 80's (My Little Pony, Care Bears, etc.) back in style, but they are collector's items. Even the things that weren't in good enough condition to sell would be much appreciated by my munchkins. I swear, we bought a Pound Puppy a couple of years ago. I'm pretty sure I had two or three of those. I could be saving and making a fortune on my childhood right now.

They'd never even know I was there.
2. Go to Woodstock - I figure one more or less soul in the muddy mess wouldn't make a difference and I could watch all the amazing people who died too young doing stupid stuff. I'd wear black and mourn the end of it all; watch the technicolor funeral pyre of our collective innocence and the joy and magic that comes when people let music and kids change the world. There would at least be fabulous dirges.

I wanted a Japanese Maple.
3. Plant a tree - When Ethan died, we talked about planting a tree for him, but we knew we weren't going to live in that house forever and so we put it off until we had a house of our own. Four years later, when we finally got around to moving, it was winter and so we thought we'd do it in the Spring. It's been seven years since he died and in October, it'll be eight. Planting a tree now would be silly because we're so late. If I had planted a tree right away, I could have transplanted it when we moved. It's just a memorial, not even the same as a memory, but I'd like to have one all the same.
I'd wear a peasant blouse and a long
flowy skirt, too. Because, that's why.
My time machine has a wardrobe.
Like the TARDIS.

4. Walk the Prairie - The one thing that I would truly love to see that I know I can never see is what the world was like when it wasn't ours. When you could travel forever and never see another human being. When the sun set without touching a house or a car or a road. When the world was wild.

Okay, now smile, me.
5. Take a picture of myself with Brynna - I don't like to be photographed and so I avoid it. One of the ways I avoid it is be constantly behind the camera. I have pictures of everyone else holding Brynna as a baby, but none of me. I changed that with Maren, but not by much.

What about you? Where would you go and what would you do?

7 comments:

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

I think this is a lovely post, but I would also like to give you my two cents' worth on the memorial tree. It is never too late to honor a life, no matter how long ago or how brief, by planting something. Something that will grow and bring a smile to your face when you see new buds, or new leaves, or changing leaves, would be a lovely way to remember him, even if you don't plant it for another 10 years.

*hugs*

KYmomx3 said...

I agree with Jenn Jenn....Ok, this seems so silly but I would have worn my hair down in my wedding. I look back at our wedding album and I don't really see me in those pictures. I never wear my hair up in fact I avoid it. It would have been more "me".

I would have scrapbooked or at least put pictures in chronological order for Kai and now Reed. I'm so confused on when what happened in Kai's life that I've given up...sad isn't it.

I also would want to walk the prarie and go to Woodstock!

Love ya!

Jessi said...

I don't print most of my pics and so I have all these digital files with names like aldkfjasld;khfsdhiuh.jpg and I have no idea if it's Brynna or Maren in half of them. I used to think Grandmommy was terrible because she couldn't tell her kids apart in pictures and now I totally get it.

Suze said...

I think if I could go back to my younger self, I would tell myself to lighten up a little bit and stand up for myself a little more. And spend more time abroad. I really wish I'd done that.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...I would never started smoking! I remember cranking at my mom for smoking in the car because I didn't want my Farrah Fawcett Wella Balsam hair to smell like smoke. Ugh!

I agree with the girls, it's never too late to honor someone you love...

You are a joy to read:)

Hugs, Rita

Jessi said...

Suze - I would totally tell myself to lighten up too.

DolceMia - Thanks so much!

Strangeite said...

As a nerd, I too have given WAY too much thought to the concept of time travel. If presented with a time machine, I would also travel to Woodstock.

I am pretty sure that you could enjoy Woodstock without having to worry overly about the butterfly effect. In fact, I think you could be pretty free with your knowledge of the future and not have that much ramifications. They key would be to not provide too much information to any one person.

If you limited your "Tales of the Future" to one a person, for the most part I think people would be amused but ultimately discount your information until the event actually took place. At which point, they would be "Whoa. That dude really was from the future." but since you didn't give them any other information, the future is protected from paradox.

My biggest problem would forcing myself to NOT start a conversation with Wavy Gravy. I think he would see right through my act and gather too much information about the future. He is one smart dude.