Lessons from Life:  No one has yet invented a time machine that will allow us to travel forward or backwards in time.  I doubt they ever will because, as I understand it, you have to exceed the speed of light to slow down or reverse time.

Quite awhile ago I had a strong feeling of regret that I could not go back in time as I watched the movie “The Graduate.”  That movie was the definitive statement for thousands of young people like myself in the late 1960’s caught in the tangle of confused feelings about adulthood and relationships.   As I watched it again twenty plus years forward of those feelings, I felt a sudden ache to go back and re-live them.  It was painful to realize again that you can never go back to the past.  Once we go through a moment in time, it fades into a memory.

As I write these words, we in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States are only about eight hours away from a brand new year.  My wife and I are planning to bring in the new year at a church concert.  This will be quite different from my new year’s eve experiences of the past when I was looking for some fantastic experience to lift me to some emotional height.

If we look at the year that is passing, we may be tempted to look back with longing and wish we could re-live some parts of it again.    As we do, we have to acknowledge again that the best way we can re-live those parts  is through looking at our diary entries.  This helps recall details that would otherwise slip away.  It also helps recall some of the feelings we had as we went through them.

I really don’t think I would use a time machine if one were ever invented.  Once through my life is going to be enough.  I do however like to treasure those special moments like the Christmas three years ago when I proposed to my current wife.  She took her time in replying but she eventually said “yes” and made my life complete.