The Secret to Time Travel

Image courtesy of DrAjao @www.DrAjao.com

I sat in my mother’s room, contemplating life as I knew it. There was no money to pay my school fees but as a young girl, I had a burning desire to go to school. My parents were farmers and I played my part by helping to sell the goods. But I knew I wanted to do more. Even though I was a young, poor girl, I knew there was more to me. With time, my parents recognized my longings and against all odds, they found a way to send me to school. God even raised up some very key people to invest in me and make this a reality. With the bare minimum, I stayed focused and determined, and I did complete secondary school. And when my sister died as a teenager due to a preventable illness, I knew I had to make sure such senseless losses were eliminated in my town. So with trust and dependence on God who rose up people of destiny to support, I went on to complete medical school, and further, to build a hospital in that very same town…

The school bell rang as I returned to the present. Deciding what to do with ones life is a challenge and having highly successful parents doesn’t make it easier. Recounting a series of stories my mother shared with me about her childhood put me into her shoes; into her experience. I have so much more than she had, so many more opportunities; how will I choose to make a difference and impact my community? Even now, this blast to the past; so present and real, yet so ancient; stands to inspires me.

The secret to time travel became more real to me presently one afternoon as I was enjoying a refreshing afternoon nap. Making it through that last stretch before I had to get up and approach my evening, my toddler son climbed up onto the bed and commenced to tap me while calling ‘Mommy’ to get me up. In that instant—that space between reality and a dream—my mind whisked back to a similar afternoon many years ago. My mother had just heard the sad news of a loved ones passing and as she lay in her bed mourning tearfully, my 2 siblings and I, no more than 4 and 5 years old, climbed onto the bed and began to speak to Mommy in consoling words. “Mommy? Mommy? Don’t cry, Mommy…” In that instant almost 25 years later, though odd and surreal, I zipped through the past and I am dumbfounded that I am “Mommy” now.

Thus, in essence, the secret to time travel is investment into family relationships. Whether it’s dodging sharp stones as you walk shoeless for that “1-mile” to school or observing your “twin son” become as intrigued by the same classic superheros as you were as a child; and even as you roll that special family heirloom around your finger for another few moments…I urge you: invest in the family that makes these things special. Spend quality time with your little ones: children and god children; nieces and nephews and especially those grand kids. Our prayer is that they will outlive us in years and magnitudes of success. But also keep in mind that our predecessors may not always be around. Take time now to cherish our parents, our grand parents and the wise elderly. Their life and experience is invaluable and will teach us important lessons that will guide us through life and give us the ability to travel through time.

-Lyrics by tia 2011