I took Cozette to Target for a watch on Friday. She picked one that’s mostly rubber and mostly white, but for some salmon highlights around the face. It’s digital. I tried to convince her to get a watch with hands, but she wanted none of that. At first I was like, ‘Child, you’re getting a watch with a face and hands so that you can learn to tell time the traditional way because…’ and then I stopped. Who am I, my mother? Why is it so important to tell time on a traditional clock? It’s not. When I was a kid our incentive for learning how to tell time was getting a Mickey Mouse watch. And I guess it was important to learn to tell time on a 12-hour clock because, well, that’s how everyone discovered what time it was. But times have changed. Time is everywhere. Once you get past the part about being able to tell what time it is, a watch with hands is pretty much is useless. Except as a fashion accessory. And most nine-year-olds don’t give a damn about Rolexes. They want a watch they can manipulate and control. So I let her get the rubber one with the digital interface. It was fifteen bucks. The old fashioned watch was thirty five.
Cozette set up her new watch on her own – shifting between modes to set the date and get the time exactly perfect to match all the clocks in our house. And then she started announcing the time. Every few minutes.
“It’s 7-11 make a wish!”
“It’s exactly eight o’clock everyone!”
“Daddy, it’s 9:43. It doesn’t feel like 9:43, does it? It feels earlier. Oops – it’s 9:44.”
Just what I always wanted, to be constantly reminded of time slipping away from me. At some point over the past few years I’ve accepted that time really is just sand in the hourglass. I don’t wear a watch. Haven’t worn one since my early twenties when I had to wear one in the Air Force. It’s not a rebellion thing – I just don’t like jewelry. But for The One Ring that binds me to my wife, I’d wear no jewelry. And of course I don’t need a watch because time is everywhere. Besides, it’s not like we need to know the exact time all the time. Morning, afternoon, night. Those are the times that matter. For all other references, I look at my phone. Or the stove. Or the the dashboard in the car.
I wasn’t always so indifferent about time. Like most people, I’ve spent most of my life in the heart of the machine – rushing around trying to get to the places I needed to be. Every day like a time clock: Punching in. Punching out. Collecting pay for the time I sell. I guess I think that if I ever resort to wearing a watch again, I’ll be back in that muck.
I’m 48 years old. A year is 365 days. Every day has 24 hours. That’s what I know. If I’m drinking coffee, it’s morning. If I’m eating dinner, it’s night. Anything more than this is a stark reminder of how swiftly time moves past. And I think this outlook on time is why I haven’t been very concerned about our kids wearing watches. Or learning how to tell time on a traditional clock. But a few weeks ago Cozette’s teacher said she thinks our daughter would benefit from a watch so that she could stay on task as she moved from project to project throughout her day – in fourth grade. You know, to prepare her for life. For the daily grind. For the race. For the machine.
“It’s 10:10 make a wish!” my little girl calls out from her bedroom so that we can all close our eyes and send a wish up to heaven or wherever they go. My wish is almost always the same. And every day it’s granted.
Poetry in moments.
***
Jessica Sawyer
Apr 10, 2013
This made me really chuckle at first. I can imagine my daughter getting to that age. Her frequent announcements of the time so apropos to her youthful outlook on the grandeur of the little things. So darling. Sentences later with heavy heart this passage has me ruminating on how the delightful progressions in child development are but grains of sand. Moving. My excitement for the grandeur of little things, details, is part of what keeps me young…I just decided.
Amy Cole
Apr 10, 2013
Love this post. Reason 1: I agree with the not having to tell time on a traditional clock. Reason 2: 4th grade. Staying on task. They’re 4th graders for God’s sake! Mine has more homework than my HS son or my MS daughter. Let them have fun. Play outside. And not know what time it is, but for the sun in the sky.
James
Apr 11, 2013
“Time is a game played beautifully by children.” – Heraclitus
addie | culicurious
Apr 11, 2013
I love wearing a watch, but mostly for the jewelry part, not the practicalness of it.
However, it’s pretty awesome in a city like New Orleans, where crime is ever-present, that you can check your watch when someone asks the time instead of whipping out your phone (thus making it so easy for them to steal. apparently this is a real problem.)
Jim Mitchem
Apr 11, 2013
What’s worse is that I’m so skeptical of everyone – I’d probably say, “I have no idea.” to the guy who asks what time it is. Just because of my paranoia that everyone’s out for something.
Gabe
Apr 12, 2013
Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’ slippin …. Into the future….
My novel – Minor King
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