The Clock

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The following are all fictional snippets of life's crucial moments caught by a time machine called a "clock." Whether we are controlled by time or we seek to control time, we are all subject to the meaning it conveys. Time reminds us there are forces at work beyond what we see. It is concretely set. As the adage says, it waits for no man. Time is a teacher. Time can be joyous or sad; the clock is very fickle and isn't at all prejudicial. It isn't fair, but then again, it really is...It's a vicious dictator and also a loving friend who reminds us to sleep, eat, and rise again for another day. The clock reminds us that we are spinning around constantly. In all of our spinning, we are chided to slow down, speed up, or stay in control. Until one day we cease to spin at all.

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1) The delivery of her first and only child was dreadful. She had soldiered on for twenty excruciating hours of a pre-planned "natural" choice only to be told she must succumb to a very necessary Caesarean birth. The child arrived at 7:19 am. Exhaustion...the all-encompassing kind, was the word of the day. Holding her child was wonderful though, and the sheer emotional and physical battle was somewhat abated.

2) The young lad's face paled as the 3:00 pm school bell ring was approaching. He knew the bullies would be waiting for him and his heart thumped loudly in his ears as his small palms began to sweat. He prayed he would survive yet another round at their hands. He longed for a watchful adult to be around instead. He wondered if he could even cry out a scream for help because his mouth was so dry. His word was dread.

3) It was now her turn at the piano. Her long, slender fingers had muscle memory from all the practice she had done to prepare for her debut. Her head told her she could accomplish this feat, but her heart so feared the look of disappointment in her father's eyes if she were to err in any small way. This had to be perfect! Her hands began to tremble. She thought she might faint. He was in the audience reading her name from the recital invitation listed for 6:15 pm. There was a word to describe what she felt; atelophobia.

4) Well, that was done! It had only taken the judge a few minutes and some preliminaries to erase the thirty+ year bond, and all promises they'd made to one another. At 8:59 am she had walked in a Mrs. and now, at 9:22 am she was walking out a Ms. The finality of it all was a blow, nonetheless. She hadn't expected that impact and couldn't get a firm hold on what exactly she was feeling, but what she did know was that she'd never be the same again. What she felt was called depersonalization. The gavel had sounded.

5) "She is going to make us late again," he growled to himself. He knew this because the woman he simultaneously adored and despised had proven it true a million times before. She wore her chronic tardiness with panache, but without an ounce of maliciousness. She had absolutely no sense of timing and it infuriated him beyond words. Experience had told him that further rushing her to leave the house by the agreed upon 1:00 pm deadline would only make matters worse, so he resigned himself to pace silently. When finally seated in the car, the digital clock read 1:17 pm. Minutes later, when they finally reached the main thoroughfare, traffic was backed up and crews were cleaning debris from an apparent horrific wreck. Three cars mangled and crunched on the side of the road. They both said silent prayers for the drivers, passengers, and their families. Being an engineer by trade and based on distance and time plus accounting for speed, he silently did the math in his head. If they had been on time, there was an almost certain chance they would have been caught up in that carnage. This time, he would give her a hard pass on her annoying habit of tardiness. All he felt now was sheer gratefulness.

6) "Rapid Response Room 523," sounded over the intercom and then the message was repeated. But by that time, a sea of healthcare workers bombarded the halls and raced towards that very room. One pushed the crash cart, a movable aluminum toolbox of sorts. Inside was a plethora of life-saving medicines and equipment. Each drawer was carefully marked. On top of the cart was the defibrillator and pads. Each worker, pre-assigned to carry out a specific duty was totally focused on the task at hand. The primary caregiver was there giving a quick run-down of recent events and preliminary diagnoses along with the Charge Nurse who ran the Code until the Emergency physician could get there. The respiratory therapist took charge of the breathing while two nurses took turns performing chest compressions. One nurse was assigned the record keeping, carefully charting the time and the event as it occurred...After it was over, and the doctor "called it, meaning to put an end to further attempts" the room was a whirlwind of assorted trash on the floor and one very still, quiet patient. The recorder marked the time of demise as 11:09 am. It is always a silent agonizing torment to ruminate on the actions which, even though the team was mechanically trained for, had failed to turn out as they had hoped on a human level. But first, the patient's family needed comfort given to them. And then there was the task of preparing the body and calling the funeral home, preparing paperwork needed for the death certificate. Not much time for decompression for the team...and the other patients, themselves anxious over the code, awaited as well. Their own pain and discomfort would just have to wait for another time...

7) What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...unless you get married! (Even if a sudden, spontaneous impulse involves alcohol and poor judgment.) And, in addition, Las Vegas, Clark County is opened 365 days a year (even holidays) and stays opened from 8:00am until 12:00 midnight. According to the FAQ from https://weddings.vegas/faqs/, the whole paperwork process usually only takes about fifteen minutes. With over 250 county venues for the ceremony...and most of them for "walk-ins, it's almost impossible to back out of a wedding! The word for romance in Las Vegas is risky! Exercise caution, please...Not much time for sound, logical thinking...signed,

Yours Truly (or Not?),

Mr. & Mrs. Should A. Thought-Twice.

(Or, as the case may be:) Mr.& Mr., Mrs. & Mrs., They & They

8) The Graduation ceremony was set to begin at 4:00 pm. The stadium was all decorated in the same bright blue and gold colors he had worn proudly on his jersey. The young man was deliriously happy to finish high school, but if truth be told, he would miss seeing his football team, the coaches, the girl he'd dated for the last three years, and most of all, his family. His scholarship was going to take him several hundred miles away from all of them. But he would be playing ball in the college he'd dreamed about all of his young life. What more could he ask for? And for now, he decided to relish in this moment and conquer the moments yet to come.

9) At 5:00 pm the office would close and then they would meet up at the neighborhood bar for the party. As she walked away from her desk, she stroked the back of her leather chair for the last time. Tears rolled down her cheeks unexpectedly, and she looked around the large room hoping that nobody had noticed the evidence of her emotions. She didn't want to be noticed or rain on their parade. She felt the appreciation and respect they had given to her all these years on the job. Saying goodbye to them wasn't going to be easy. The "job" had been her only family except for her cat, Maizy who waited for her faithfully at home. The fact of the matter, this already felt more like going to a wake instead of a retirement celebration. Where had the last forty plus years of her life gone? And why had it all vanished so quickly? Wasn't it just yesterday she came bouncing through those very same doors she now was leaving from? She had no idea what she was going to do for the rest of her life, and in reality, that future terrified her and left her numb. And then she put her party face on for the crew, hoping they would call often and check in, but full-well knowing they wouldn't...their lives were just too busy. Her life would be too monochrome. Maybe it always had been. Well, except for Maizy.

10) The competitive swim coach met with his new students along the north side of the University's Olympic sized pool for the first time. And just as he had many times before, with different sets of students, in his same speech, asked the same question, "Can you tell me who Milorad Cavic is?" Most of the time, nobody knew. But Coach could only count on one hand, in fact, those that did know. And those few ended up being some of his best competitors in previous sessions. They loved swimming and they loved to win. He would go on to tell them the significance of that name in relation to a more common one in swimming: Michael Phelps. And then he would ask them what a second in time really meant to them. Would they be willing to train and fight for first place even if coming in second meant losing only by finishing one-hundredth of a second? Their first preliminary for the 100-meter butterfly would be in two weeks at 6:45am. The students left feeling humbled and challenged.

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Some thoughts on time:

Time is probably the most valued asset we can have next to good health and love (if we are blessed enough to have those.) Cherish your time. Combine time, health, and love to create the best possible outcomes in your lives and for others.

There might be a thousand moments that we would like to somehow change if we could. But should we? And there are a thousand moments we want to remember as vividly as we can because they are just that beautiful to us. But all these moments have made us into the people we are today. That was their purpose, perhaps.

We are each allotted a certain number of days to use by our Creator, to spend, and to share wisely. My wish is that my story gives you pause and reflection to live out your lives fully and purposefully.

I also hope that these snippets will provide a new vision for opportunities to spend your time in the service of others and that empathy is exponentially nurtured in each of us.

Life doesn't always turn out like we want or expect, and sadly, people let us down and betray us. Sometimes, there are things we can change and sometimes we have no control on how the picture will turn out. But we can decide to be kind to others and to ourselves, too. We all have time for that!

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This story was written for the Writer's Challenge by fellow Creator, Randy Baker:

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References:

(As mentioned in Snippet #3, below is more information on atelophobia.)

(As mentioned in Snippet #5, the wife may indeed suffer from the malady listed in this article from Psychology Today:)

(Snippet #9 discusses the emotional side of making the turn in later years termed retirement.)

(This article was just too good not to include as a reference tool for Snippet #10. Hope you read it, too!)