Moments in Time ...

 

Once again, I find myself “social distancing” from all the negativity of the so-called “news” programs – all of them. It is like I am caught in a loop. I watch for a while, drive myself nuts, and then pivot away to other things.  I already told you about the black and white movie compulsion.  Well – now I am focusing on brief adventures to moments of the past… sometimes bittersweet really -- poignant in the sense of touching and meaningful with a pinch, maybe, of sadness as they are, after all, moments that cannot be repeated – moments that only exist in memory. They are brief moments in time that pop into my head – unexpected thoughts and glimpses of memories even as far back 60+ years ago. They are not glimpses of milestones or of anything big – they are glimpses of small bits and pieces – moments that others might find to be totally inconsequential.  But … the little things/times are important as well – maybe more than we know. I have no idea why they appear unexpectedly, but it is nice somehow. I am thinking that everyone has these little gifts from time to time.  Hope so.

A few days ago, I was thinking about my Dad, and there it was.  I was about to turn 11.  Our family was in Idaho visiting with one of my Dad’s old Marine Corps buddies and his family, and we were all outside of their cabin in Ketchum – near Sun Valley.  We were walking though a mountainous area and it was hot, hot, hot.  My Dad stopped by a creek, knelt down and filled his cupped hands with cool mountain water and offered it to me to drink.  It was “dad-hands” water and never had water tasted better. It was a “Dad Kindness”.  It is a lovely memory.

Then I was reading a book a few days later about people being frightened on a small airplane and another glimpse appeared.  I was flying from Boston’s Logan Airport into a tiny airport in Vermont near the New Hampshire border. The airport in Vermont had no radar or way to help planes land other than lighted runways. You know – back in the day. (Not sure that was true, but that was a commonly held belief.) I was probably 19 or 20. It was a six-passenger plane – the kind with the propeller on the nose -- and men were holding it down on the tarmac when we boarded - I guess so that it didn’t blow away in the winter storm. I was one of two idiots on the plane + a pilot.  I guess the young man across the aisle could sense my fear as we bumped and dropped our way toward Moose Mountain, near Hanover, NH. Suddenly the young man reached across that aisle and offered his hand.  And so it was –no words, just two total strangers holding hands – thinking that at any moment buffeted and battered by the storm, we were going to plummet into a mountain and come to a fiery end together.  It was a “Stranger Kindness”.  I wish I had asked him his name. I wonder if he ever thinks of that moment.

Photographers are famous for catching these poignant moments. Some of the photographs have become famous -- immortalizing significant moments in history – like the New York Post published photo of the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square on VJ Day.  But I think all people have these significant moments – probably too many to count – most are not caught on camera. Most are in our minds - not on the front page of newspapers or these days - caught in a short video on someone’s phone.  They are special moments in time throughout one’s life and ...  they come out to play once in a while.  Personally, I think they are wonderful. I hope all people have them and take the time to relish them. I think they are gifts -- sort of a mindfulness of the past.  These days we try so hard to be mindful of the world around us in every moment and of every single thing and every one in it, but the past has its draw as well. I guess what I am wondering is – is this type of flashback more prevalent in Boomers – you know -- age related…? Or – is it that we just have more time to focus on the bits and pieces that really count in a lifetime?