A Moment In Time

By Ed Croft,Worldwidehippies – Ah time.  How often do we find ourselves in a mad dash getting nowhere? We fill our lives with things to do and rush from one to the other without savoring the now. The now, that instant moment that we miss, as we are all ready looking ahead to what is to come. How many such moments have we missed? This really hit home today as I was, not really forced, but felt I should, slow down and be in the moment.

I am part of an organization and we had an open house. The place we meet is an old house in which we added on space for our meetings. The house was given to our organization in the 70’s from the previous owner. It is an old house built in the 1800’s. The story is that the dentist, who built it, would travel to Georgia once a year to do drawings of a house down there. He would then return to Massachusetts and add on to the house he was building according to those drawings. He was trying to create a duplicate of the house he fell in love with in Georgia. He did a pretty good job, but unfortunately, the house in Georgia burned down before he could finish. There is quite a bit of history in the house and fascinating architecture.  So through the day, we would introduce people to our organization and give them tours of our meeting space and the house. Everything went smoothly, just as if I was a tour guide at the mansions in Newport. I would escort people fluidly through the building pointing out interesting features and artifacts.  As the afternoon progressed, an elderly lady came in and enquired of the building. I offered to take her on a tour.

You ever feel the breaks of time just stop? I have always been raised to respect my elders and try to do whatever I could.  So we walked slowly up the long hall that runs alongside the meeting room to the house section. Along the wall are the pictures of the past leaders of our organization going back to the 1800’s. She took note of them as we walked along. We walked slowly, and the reason, I was to find later, was that she was an amputee and had a prosthetic leg. Admittedly, she walked pretty well, but my gate was slowed greatly as I am used to taking great strides with my long legs. So it was baby steps for me most of the way. I took her into the meeting room and we must have stood in there for what seemed like a half hour as she talked about her and her husband.  She talked about how they used to be able to get around pretty good, but that there was concern that her husband might lose his license soon. They lived in town, so could walk downtown, but a lot had changed.  We eventually moved into the library and I pointed out a few of the features and artifacts and she went on to tell me more about her family.

Her daughter was living down in New Jersey with her husband. They both took turns out going out of town on business. She said how she offered to take their daughter if need be, but the husband was nervous about letting the granddaughter come up to stay with them because they were still driving at their age. I believe she said she was 76 and her husband 81. I could tell it kind of bothered her a bit. So though I really wanted to keep moving on, I stopped and bode my time and just listened. She went on to tell me about how her husband had bought her daughter snowshoes for her birthday. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t think it was a good idea, especially with the lack of snow this winter, but held her tongue. As it turned out, her daughter loved them and couldn’t wait for a snow to try them out.  She chuckled over that.  Eventually, we moved through the entryway with its old staircase leading to the second floor and the old water elevator. It was out of service as a pipe had broken and it would have cost way too much to fix. She then told me how she used to come to the house when she was younger. She noted how much it changed but yet stayed the same. She had been a friend of the family. That was her reason for coming, to see the place again. She wasn’t aware of a lot of the history of the house.  We proceeded into the living room or parlor, what we call the Pink Room. It is a beautiful room with big windows and a lot of ornate carvings and trim. The ceiling has some features to it in an oval of ornamentation. We looked around the room a bit and she told me about how she was watching a show on TV about a vet getting a new leg. She said it was amazing how he was able to run after having the new leg. She said her leg wasn’t quite as good and at her age she probably would never get one like that. She said that he, the vet, deserved it and we should be taking care of our vets for what they give for us.  We moved into the dining room and I pointed out the soffit doors that slide into the walls to be hidden when not in use. She really loved that feature and then I suppose because of the dining room, brought up our breakfast the next morning.

We continued back through the library and back down the hall as she told me how she would have loved to come to the breakfast. She said that there was an Arlo Guthrie movie on later tonight that she wanted to see so she didn’t think she would be up. She told me that by the time she got out of her Unitarian Church, our breakfast would be over.  It kind of got me on that one as I don’t hear too many people who belong to UU churches.  I had often thought of joining one, but they are few and far between. I like the idea that UU churches are welcoming of all. I knew that some even had a program for welcoming people of the LGBT community.  It is that openness that intrigues me.  We continued on down the hall and once again she brought up the breakfast. I pointed out that maybe next month as we have one every month. She thanked me for taking the time to show her around and headed back home.

I had all kinds of topics that I wanted to talk about this week. As the time came closer to when I normally write my article, my other job kind of took over. I found myself working through the night and not having the time to write my article. I was getting frustrated and all worked up.  I was all ready late with my video for the week. Yet, as I sat and tried to remember all those great ideas I had to write, my mind went totally blank. All I could think of was the time I spent with this lovely lady and the stories she shared of her life.  One of those stories could be the basis for another article. She talked about the small town atmosphere that used to be present. How she missed the small stores that used to take care of families. In the end, I thought about the time I spent with a lovely lady who shared her life. All that I had to do was to slow down for a moment and just be there with her.  In doing that, I left her with a smile.

Edward Croft – Though, I was born a little late for the full blown hippie movement, I always was drawn to it. Not for the drugs and sex, but for the philosophy. I truly believe that we can come together as one people, one heart, and find solutions for this world. I find that my knowledge of Native American ways ties right in with that, as they were deeply spiritual and honored the land.  I have always called myself a hippie at heart. I believe in peace, love and harmony. Oh and great music.
My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

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My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.