Time Traveling

Fall Notions

I believe in time travel.  After an exhausting day of substitute teaching (yes, I have been reduced to this while writing my second book), I lay in Emma's bed to read with her before bedtime.  I admit I drifted off as she reread Oh! The Thinks You Can Think! for the millionth time.  When I roused, it wasn't Fall of 2012, but Fall of 2002.  I lay beside three-year-old Anabel in her twin bed in our old house on Laurel Lake Drive.  In my mind, I could see her room just as it was before Emma was born and Wyatt was forced to move from the nursery to his big sister's room.  I saw the stenciling I had painted, Anabel's name on the wall, her duvet and still fully stuffed teddy bear.  Some part of me knew this wasn't real, but I closed my eyes tighter relishing the experience.  Suddenly, I felt a baby kick inside me - okay, maybe it was the chili we had for dinner or probably the nine-year-old Emma doing her usual nighttime dancing, but for that moment, it felt like I was pregnant again.  As I reluctantly woke up fully, I lay there amazed at the power of the mind.  Oh, the thinks I can think! A good imagination can take you anywhere- even back in time... and aren't reading and writing perfect ways of transporting yourself to another place or another time?

Boston Capital Building

Friday Blogs are my new time traveling days.

For my time travels today, I am sitting in a Starbucks just below Beacon Hill and Boston Common.  I snuck out of our hotel room, leaving Greg and the kids sound asleep, so I can write.  With a pumpkin spice latte cooling beside my Apple, I type about our whirlwind two day tour of Philadelphia.  I expound on the sights and smells of Reading Street Market as I glance out the window and watch the business men and women rush about their morning routines on their way to work in Massachusetts' capital city.  I pause for a sip. Still too hot, but the scent of nutmeg arouses my mind and I get lost in my writing.  Sitting in Boston, I am walking the streets of Philadelphia. (See my post I wrote one year ago on our Taste of America Tour - We're Full of Brotherly Love for Philadelphia.)

Reading Street Market in Philadelphia