There once was a clock that hung on the wall that drove me crazy.
The old pendulum wall clock was a gift to my parents on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary. It was a gift from their children: my sister Jayne, my brother Jon, and me. It hung on the wall in our family room, ticking its way through the day. It hung on the wall in our family room, chiming out at the top and bottom of each hour.
There once was a clock that hung on the wall that drove me crazy.
Many a night, I slept on the floor of that family room. In college, I would sometimes nap in that room before going to my night job loading semi-truck trailers at United Parcel Service. Over and over again, that clock would wake me with its incessant chiming. I hated that clock and often thought about breaking it, since I’ve wondered if my parents even liked the clock or if they simply kept it on the wall because “the kids gave it to us.”
There once was a clock that hung on the wall that drove me crazy.
My sister sent me a text yesterday. She was cleaning out my mother’s basement. My mother died of Parkinson’s in the summer of 2011. The clock had been silent since she moved to the nursing home in 2009. In her text, Jayne asked me if I wanted the clock. If not, it would be taken to the senior thrift store in DeKalb, Illinois.
There once was a clock that hung on the wall that drove me crazy.
I asked Felicia what she thought. She said, “Why would you want a clock that drove us crazy?” She was right you know. She usually is right. (The only questionable decision she has made in her life was saying “I do” to me. “Trust her instincts, Jim!”)
There once was a clock that hung on the wall that drove me crazy.
“Jayne, I would love to have that clock. I will put it in my office at church.”
And so, the clock that drove me crazy will soon be on its way to me. The clock that belonged to my parents, the clock that stopped the day my mother left the family home, that clock will soon be coming home to me. You see, with each chime, that clock will harken back to days gone by…to lazy Sunday afternoons watching NFL football games with my Dad, to heart-to-heart talks with my Mom, to the earliest days of dating Felicia, and to a time when it seemed that life would go on forever.
Life does not go on forever. Life is fleeting and precious. Time respects no man. Time waits for no woman. My mom and dad are gone. There are days when that bothers me, and there are days when I rejoice at their legacy. My mom and dad are gone, but soon the clock that drove us crazy will chime again.
That’s all for now.
See you in church,
Questions or Comments? Email Pastor Jim at [email protected]
