Daily Prompt
One-Way Street
Congrats! You’re the owner of a new time machine. The catch? It comes in two models, each traveling one way only: the past OR the future. Which do you choose, and why?
No no NO, WP, you just don’t get it, do you. You might be angst-ridden, antsy, impatient, frustrated and all those other things to which the youth are prone – but I am NOT, and I do not WANT to time travel in either direction, particularly when it seems to mean I’ll be stuck there owing to having no reverse gear.
It may seem inconceivable to you that someone of my age might be perfectly happy where they are, but that’s because you’re still revelling in youthful entitlement and the joys of dissatisfaction, and don’t yet realise that the grass on the other side of the fence is probably only greener because the bloke who owns that paddock works damn hard to make it that way (the exception being those who don’t have the chance, and I don’t think you fall into that category).
I have no desire to pop back to any part of my life or anyone else’s, knowing that the future has already happened and is beyond recall. And as for the future – why on earth would I want to torture myself knowing what the shitty bits will be? Because there will be shitty bits, inevitably. That’s the way life is, always has been and always will be. How else would we learn anything?
So don’t try and drag me (yet again) out of my hard-won and mostly pleasant present, thanks very much, and send me off somewhere I don’t want to be, and according to the rules as stated, have no hope of leaving until this prompt cycles around again. And goodness knows, I might be dead by then.
I agree. This is a lazy attempt at a prompt today. Someone said it was recycled. This seems like a bad day for the prompt. There are only 64 responses so far, there were 137 yesterday.
It’s been recycled too often, I think.
Helen, you do make me smile, even though I’m aware of the sincerity of what you are saying.
It’s good to appreciate where we are and to be able to heave a sigh of relief that we don’t have to take a spin in a time machine, Thank goodness!! ❤
Quite often, you only realise you’re happy in retrospect. It’s nice to enjoy it while it’s happening!
Oh, Helen, preaching to the choir, as we say down South. Couldn’t agree more. Right now is all that matters.
I think I’ve finally learned that right now is all there is, given tomorrow’s habit of throwing up the unimaginable
How wonderfully your words explain exactly how I feel at 71 almost 72. I’m fine, right here, thanks. And thank you, Helen, for explaining that fact far better than I ever could.
I’ll be 72 next year. isn’t it a shame it takes us so long to put life in perspective!
Good one, Helen. I concur!