Two Wheels To Nowhere

~ letter to my siblings and mother ~

“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day” ~ Time by Pink Floyd

So the battery finally died after almost 4 years. So I replaced it today. Earlier this week Mom had read Dad’s maintenance log (like he had in all his clocks) and told me it said “1 D cell”. So, earlier this week, I headed over with a D-cell. Turns out it needed a C-cell – Dad had uncharacteristicly missed that detail. So, today after dropping Mom off back at her place, I proceeded to finally change the battery. After doing so, before closing it up, I thoughtlessly grabbed the tiny maintenance log Dad had taped in and crumpled it up for trash. As I latched the cover in place, I came to my senses, realizing that log was an important part of that clock’s story! I flattened the tiny paper and stuck it back in its rightful place. As I did so, I noticed another small label higher up behind the back of the clock face. It was the ‘Made By’ sticker you see here. So typical ‘Dad’; in his own script (surprisingly not a Dymo label!).

Performing this little maintenance task brought back some warm memories of Dad and his passion for clocks, woodworking and documentation. As I get older, my family and I recognize that I am slowly getting more like Dad as each year passes. Some of the behaviour is innate and some of it is more ‘age related’. Either way, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I dutifully noted the date of the battery change (incorrectly), corrected the battery type and chuckled to myself as I realized Dad’s dates of battery changing were relatively short increments compared to this last one. I observed that Dad had noted when it was a ‘new’ or ‘used’ battery and smiled as I figured the ‘new’ batteries were likely bottom-shelf from the dollar store and the ‘used’ were pulled from more demanding devices but still had enough juice in ’em to run a clock for a few month! Waste not, want not. So typically Dad.

Well, time ticks on and it’s nice to take the time occasionally to remember that, despite his idiosyncrasies, we had a pretty neat Dad (and partner) and how special it is that he made sure we all were left with a time piece that was either his handwork or from his anachronistic collection.