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Friday, March 22, 2013

Time Travel II

It has been a few years since I wrote about time travel. It was in an essay. A good topic to revisit this weekend, in the glowing solstice shadow, because of a photo --taken by my brother exactly 43 years ago-- of two young people who touched lives, joined ways, and to that touch entrusted all their days.



In that essay, I wrote this: "There is a freedom in restraint. Perhaps it comes from gradually concerning ourselves less and less with the good opinion of young people. The reasons we older people go about things need in no way trouble them. Let's consider that a prime directive." Now I write such paragraphs, but once we were young: we were the young people about whom such paragraphs were written. How did we do it? How did we navigate adversities, dodge and not dodge the blows of the world? I don't remember.

We should have worn helmets.

Time machines are dangerous and not precisely self-contained. There are extensions and linkages that cannot be seen all at once, belong to no particular moment and can only be deduced by their effect upon us later. From this remove, it is easy to forget the vast reserves of temporal energy we kept in those days, the promise of it --and I accept that. But there's one thing I can't quite reconcile with photographic evidence: for some silly reason I remember us being in color. 

13 comments:

  1. I immediately imagined your black & white photo in color. Perhaps that is because, in my own time machine travels, I always remember my past in vivid color.

    For some strange reason, it is my present that seems to be unfolding in somber shades of black & white.

    I savor time machine travel, and I've always worn a helmet....

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  2. Ah youth; it seems so beautiful now. We were so idealistic; we were always so right.. The years mellow us out which is good and many times our purposes change or evolve. My body may be worn and tired, but my heart still remains a part of that 18 year old girl with so much hope. My time machine has some regrets and sorrows, but mostly it has given me a good ride. I hope yours has done the same.

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  3. What a lovely couple.
    Why is that black and white photos seem so much more 'real' than colour ones. Must be my generation.

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  4. Interesting. I'm just a bare bit younger than you, but the world in my day was the ghastly color of bad polyester. It was a world in color but far too much of it.

    I much prefer the more stylish, muted palet of the world today.

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  5. If I'm reading between the lines correctly, the 22nd was your wedding anniversary? If so, Happy Anniversary, dude... and dudette.

    March 22, 1969 was the date my hubby and I were supposed to get married, too. Had the church, the hall, the music, the food, the invitations, the whole shebang, all set up, and on the 14th, he called home to let me know his leave had been canceled. Crap-a-doodle-doo, huh? Took a bunch of last minute scrambling, but I simply shifted everything back a couple months, and we got married in May, instead. (Lots of B&W pictures to show for it, too.)

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  6. Have read this. Was feeling it deeply and then the last sentence made me shake my head and think, 'Geo., Geo., Geo.'

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  7. Visiting from mybabyjohn/Delores. And I too 'saw' the photo in colour. It took a second look to see that it wasn't.

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  8. Jon-- You astonish me! Had I written your comment it would be stacked into half-sentences and posted on my poetry site. Much appreciated!

    Arleen-- What a beautiful comment! But "worn and tired"? I saw the photo of you dancing at Andy's wedding and cannot concur.

    Delores-- Yes, they do seem more real and I can't explain it. Maybe because imagination and memory are more engaged by b&w photography.

    Geezers-- I remember the'70s explosions of impossible colors, enjoyed it and yes, now prefer brown.

    Susan--Correct, and appreciated. Yes, these infants made commitments we still honor --and enjoy. I too remember how unpredictable those years were. Your May wedding meant fortune favored a hero and prayers were answered. My compliments to you both.

    Suze--Precisely my reaction to my own stuff. Thanks!

    Elephant's Child-- A colorful imagination is most welcome. Hello!

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  9. This one speaks to me, Geo.

    Yes: we should've worn helmets.

    Pearl

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  10. Pearl-- Most kind. The 25th was a particularly challenging day for me and finding your compliment sure helped.

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  11. How sweet- congratulations!

    I too, blend the color and b&w in my mind's eye. School was b&w. Photos were b&w. TV was b&w. Nana's house was b&w with a red sofa. All else was color. The b&w was much more real.



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  12. I love that photo! And I am so glad I am not in my twenties any more. Helmets, indeed. I watch my kids now and know they'll have to go through all that. Why does anyone assume youth is carefree?

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  13. I find the memories to be unreliable but the feelings to be enduring.

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