Time Machine

“This moment will just be another story someday.” ~ Author Unknown

In my current job, I get to interact with a lot of students everyday - students from all around the country and of all ages. Every Thursday, we warm up with a Thoughtful Thursday question. A few weeks ago, the question was: If you could go back in time and meet anyone, who would you meet and why? A few weeks before that, I had a similar type of question: If you could go back to any time in history, where and when would you go? On both days, I had expected answers that related to popular figures or famous historical adventures. But all throughout those two separate days, the majority of my students gave me answers I didn’t expect. “I’d go back to third grade because that was before Covid.” “I’d go back to when I was ten because it was just a good year.” “I’d take a time machine to see my grandma again.” They chose to go back to a time in their own lives. They chose to go back to revisit a person they could no longer see anymore. 

This has genuinely shifted my perspective on life. Last night, someone asked me that question. “If you had a time machine and could use it three times, where would you go and what would you do?” I thought about how my students would answer that question. “I would go back to when I was seven-years-old and visit my grandparents’ farm,” I said. “They would still be there.” For a moment, I was brought back to the warm, comforting feeling of that place. I thought about so many memories - so many stories I wish I could relive. 

It made me wonder. In ten or twenty years, if someone asks me that question, will I pick where I am and who I’m with right now? Is this moment in this space where I would choose to travel back to in a time machine? 

How about you? What stories do you wish you could live over again in your life? What story is unfolding now that may be the one you can’t wait to come back to later?