If I could save time in a bottle the first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day till eternity passes away just to spend it with you.
If I could make days last forever, if words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then, again I would spend them with you.
If I had a box just for wishes and dreams that never came true
The box would be empty except for the memory of how they were answered by you.
But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them.
I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I want to go through time with...
-Jim Croce, 1974-
One of the blessings/curses of teaching preschool for 15 years is running into my former students who are now all grown up reminding me of how old I've become. That happened to me yesterday when I walked into Chick-fil-a and saw a beautiful blonde-haired teen-aged girl sitting at a table surrounded by loud, hormonal teen-aged guys. I had to do a double-take before I recognized the once-shy little three-year old student of mine and exclaim, "Shelby, I almost didn't recognize you; You're all grown up!" As I watched this group of excited teens who had gathered together to plan their Senior Prom my own memories of high school came flooding back to me. My very conservative parents had not allowed me to go to my Senior Prom so I was excited to be on the committee planning my Senior Banquet. We had chosen rather appropriately that year as our theme song Jim Croce's "Time In a Bottle" and decorated each place setting with a tiny bottle filled with colorful sand (which is probably still buried in my hope chest somewhere between my diploma and all of Keith's love letters). And as I watched this new generation of teens I couldn't help but ask myself, Where did the time go? I had another of these deja-vu moments a couple of weeks ago when someone on Facebook asked me to join our school's online yearbook. In the 37 years since my graduation I hadn't been back to any high school reunions and only kept up with a few chosen classmates so it was eye-opening to see their updated photos and read about their now grown-up lives. It was awkward to see "The Italian Stallion" and remember our frequent lighthearted flirtations. Keith would be chagrined to see that his graying hair was also turning loose, though Keith had never really felt threatened by him (they both knew back then where my real affections were). I viewed with intrepidation the page of the class nerd (think "Screech" on "Saved By the Bell") whose annoying advances I often dodged. I remembered one particular time I ran out of excuses and lamely accepted a date (can you say "awwwwkward!") then, overcome with fear that my friends would see me with a "loser" I managed to get out of the date. He never pursued me again after that day and I kind of missed it. It gave me great pleasure (and some relief) to see that today he has a beautiful wife who obviously chose to look past the cover and he is a successful, award-winning architect. I viewed with sorrow and a certain vulnerability the posts about our many classmates who have passed from this life to the next, many of them victims of various forms of cancer. I realized that death, and cancer in particular, is no respector of persons...It had taken the popular, and the nobody, the jock and the nerd alike. Most of all looking at that yearbook I realized that time stands still for nobody. If I could put time in a bottle those sands would still keep seeping through till they would eventually run out. And that's exactly as it should be. I wouldn't go back and relive those days for anything, neither do I want to rush through these days to get on to the next. Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, just as it should be...and I want to hang on to that pendulum for as long as I can and enjoy the ride!
