Time Stands Still

Just a few days ago, I wrote about time marching on -- or at least that was my title. Of course, time doesn't stand still, but my watch broke. I really like my watch. It's probably nothing special, a Bulova with a tiny diamond chip, but I've had it for fifteen years. I like that the band is comprised of both silver and gold, so it goes with whatever other jewelry I'm wearing. Fortunately, even though it broke during class, I was able to catch it and salvage the pieces. When I have a few minutes, I'll drop it off to be repaired. In the meantime, I need something else to tell me what time it is. I figure that since I don't allow students to have their electronic devices out during class, I shouldn't have my phone out either. (I'll admit to having sneaked a peak at the time once or twice.)

As fortune would have it, I inherited quite a few watches from my mother and grandmother. I was looking for one in particular that I couldn't track down, my grandmother's very old silver watch. It's the type you have to wind, which is handy because all of the others I have need batteries. (Mine doesn't need winding or batteries.) I did find one, which I was reluctant to use. In the end I decided it would have to work. Here is a (very unflattering) picture of it.

It isn't that I don't think it's beautiful; I do. When I wore it to class yesterday, several students remarked on its "coolness". There are two things I don't like about it. One is that I hate for anything to touch my neck. I've always been that way, and my grandmother was too. I cringe when I see someone wearing a turtleneck. I rarely wear necklaces. But that's the minor thing. What bothers me more is the story of how this watch came to be in my family. My father bought it for my mother one year for their anniversary, under much duress. I remember specifically that it came from Bailey, Banks, and Biddle, a high-end jeweler in the DC area, and that my mother begged my father for it. As you may or may not be able to tell from the picture, there is a place for an inscription; there is none. Instead, there's just a flat, blank area in the otherwise filagreed surface. I find this sad.

I'm hoping to have my own watch back (which, incidentally, was a gift from my second ex-husband) soon. This one will be a nice family heirloom -- for an heir who doesn't know the story.