Matter of Time

I think time is one of man's greatest inventions.  Time helps us judge how far we have come, not only as a whole but as an individual as well.  Times can be defined by words like good, bad, hard, bed. and so many more. Dark, Industrial, and Stone are used to describe ages throughout the human timeline.  Time has always fascinated me, and through that fascination my love for watches grew.

The time period of my life when I made the transition to Florida can only be described by the word, tough.  I moved down to stay with my father.  We were both about a year removed from prison and my father had yet made a way for himself in South Florida.

We didn't have a hundred dollars between the two of us most of the time. My father had been doing odd jobs to make money whenever he could to make a few bucks. Honestly if it wasn't for food stamps many nights we would have gone to bed hungry. One day a friend of my father asked him to help her move and she would give him a hundred dollars.  After a long day of moving, the woman handed my father a gift certificate for Nordstrom.  This is not what he had expected but he needed a pair of dress shoes so he did not mind too much. So we headed to the mall.

​We walked around Nordstrom looking for shoes with no success. Most shoes there cost more than a hundred dollars.  On our way out we stopped by the watch section. Mostly just to daydream about what we would buy if we had money.  And there it was, a beautiful black and red G SHOCK. At the time, G SHOCKs were pretty popular.  I told my father when I got some money I would buy one.  The woman behind the counter let me try it on and I instantly fell in love.  My father asked the woman how much the watch was and she replied, "$99."  My father told me to get the watch if I wanted it, he would use his gift card.  I felt guilty and couldn't take his card that he earned. I didn't even help him lift one box. He was persistent, I guess it had been a few years since he had the ability to buy me something. I ended up leaving with the watch on my wrist. 

That watch will always be special to me. I wore it as I traveled the country seeking adventure and prosperity. It was there with me when I grinded up my first ten thousand dollars  And it was on my wrist the first day of barber school. The watch became a companion, as I tried my hardest to make the most of my time here on planet Earth.
     
Sometimes I pull the it out the watch box and I stare.  I think about how far I came along. I think about my dad and his selflessness. It was a moment in time I will always cherish. I had no idea then that we would get to share that moment again, but this time on a much more grand scale.

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​To Be Continued...