If you could go back in time…
Once a month, I get together with two long time friends for a walk along the trails somewhere in our county. The Chrysler Greenway runs for 42 kms along the length of the old railway lines, giving us countless locations to choose from. Walking in nature is uplifting in and of itself, but catching up with friends during that time makes it a perfect two hours.
A short time ago, we decided to meet close to the area where I lived during my childhood. From the time I was 10 years old, my mother and 3 siblings lived in a farmhouse on the outskirts of McGregor, Ontario.
My friends and I started walking south along the trail, where trains used to barrel by, a couple of acres behind the farmhouse. Almost immediately, I started pointing and sharing memories: “That was the corn field we loved to play hide and seek in; There’s the remnants of the barn where we used to laugh hysterically as we jumped into the hay loft; The field where the horses roamed; Where my sister screamed as she fell and broke her collar bone…”
My mother used to say she had to “steal from Peter to pay Paul” to save for rent and make ends meet every month. We couldn’t afford to heat the upstairs in the winter and closed off that area of the house. We ran a water line from the well once a week to fill the reservoir in the basement. We were happy because that’s all that mattered to my mom. Family - there is nothing more important. She instilled that in each of us and her legacy lives on.
Smiling, I had a vision of myself as a 10 year old, running through the corn fields and stopping suddenly. The young, “me” glanced over to see her 56 year old self walking by. Time Warp! What had she imagined her life would be like 46 years later? What was that young girl thinking of in those times? Her dreams? Her fears? My dreams and fears as I struggled to figure out my life’s path.
If you could go back in time would you change anything? It serves no purpose to dwell on what could have or should have happened. But, are we achieving our goals? Have we overcome obstacles by challenging and confronting our fears? What’s stopping us from finding our “why” and true purpose in this life? Reflecting and learning from the choices we made along the way can guide us now and in our futures. Perhaps in the coming weeks, as many of us self-isolate due to the COVID-19, we can take this time as an opportunity to refocus, reconnect and make positive choices for ourselves and those we love.
