I just noticed that the calendar in my den is still turned to June. Next Tuesday will be September 1. Two months have elapsed. Four trips to Costco, one trip to Kohl's Department Store, three trips to WalMart, 3-500 photos posted, Zenfolio photo gallery site started, many reruns of Matlock, nasty political bad manners and childish behavior, loss of Ted Kennedy, five ripe tomatoes, three cucumbers (finally, one overdone), several thousand photos edited, started Twitter, started Facebook, solved nearly 100 New York Times crossword puzzles, and that's about it. Two months gone. Just like that.
I wonder if that is what time travel is like, just big holes in time. I thought time travel had some possible merit until I realized the guy who was the time traveler showed up stark naked every time he time traveled and had to steal clothes. I wasn't sure of the propriety of him showing up in the presence of a six year old girl, but he seemed to cover himself with bushes. What I would like to know is this: Did two months really elapse for me? Or did time stand still, waiting for me to turn the calendar page? Christopher Reeve seemed to have a somewhat better deal in what he got out of going back in time since he at least had some clothes on when he met up with Jane Seymour. I'm still looking at June. In a couple more months, it will be November. I wonder what pictures I have missed in July and August, and what the pictures are for September and October. Maybe my wife will wander in and change the pages. I would have to walk around my desk and stumble over about three electrical cords to change the page, and that seems to be an insurmountable burden.
Besides, a brief power outage turned my bedside clock into a blinking 12:00, and for about a month now I only think about changing the time in the middle of the night, when I wake up and wonder what time it is. Then I realize we are stuck on 12:00 and so, once again, time is standing still. So, insofar as I can deduce, it is now 12:00, a.m. or p.m. doesn't matter, on the 30th of June 2009. If someone wants to come by and change my calendar page and reset my clock, perhaps I will join the happy throngs in the present moment. But that would mean watching several dozen Matlock reruns that have been recorded during my absence, and I'm not sure I'm up for that.
