I’ve always been drawn to the idea of time travel.
Perhaps it’s because I have lived a life of longing. I never knew my mom and dad because they died before I ever had a chance to know them. I was an infant when they left this earth and have always wondered, what were they like, how would my life have been different if they lived?
There was a show on television called Quantum Leap (1989-1993). I wanted badly to write a script for an episode that took me (or a character playing me) back in time so I could meet my parents.
How many of us wish we could turn back time and have a redo? I know that such a thing is not possible, and frankly, I’ve experienced a wonderful life full of lots of lessons. While I wish my beginnings were different, I have few regrets and am happy with how my life turned out. I cannot go back in time to change anything, but I can return to the past.
At the moment I’m writing a memoir. Relying on memories as well as journal entries I began in my teens, along with letters I wrote to my best friend beginning when I was just 10 years old, I have a timeline of many significant moments in my life. Armed with these archives, I am time traveling as I write scenes, recreating those moments. Reliving my past is exhilarating, heartbreaking, and enlightening. Time travel is real, at least in my head and on paper.
I’ve had several incidents in my travels where hit hit me that I had been “here” before. Then I realize that it wasn’t possible.