Time Travel discussion

There was one unearthed in Tulsa for their centennial birthday a few years back. The concrete vault "capsule" was buried on the courthouse lawn in 1957 and was opened in 2007. It contained a Plymouth Belvedere, gas, oil, a case of beer, and a steel time capsule which went to the family of the person who most closely guessed what the population would be here in 2007. Unfortunately, they didn't do a good job sealing it, and the car was covered in mud and fairly ruined. However, the steel capsule that was buried with the car kept everything inside well-preserved. It contained a flag (with only 48 stars), some boring letters from boring government officials, savings account information ($100 grew to $1000), and postcards with guesses on the population of Tulsa for 2007.

My son's kindergarten class did one, and the idea was to open them at your graduation. The teacher also sent a reminder letter to all the kids she could locate-which I thought was a really nice touch. There was a current newspaper, a photo, a letter from your parents, a self-portrait, a picture of the class, a list of the movies playing at the movie theatre, the most popular toys, hit songs, and some kind of craft.

I had hidden my son's and he had totally forgotten about it, so it was a very special present at his graduation.

Mika wrote: "That's a cool idea. If I owned a house, I might do something like that. The trouble is, with our transient society, where do you leave things for so long a time?"

I think you'd probably fare best getting permission to leave it in a park or something. Of course, when you come back in 20 years, there's no guarantee you won't find a sidewalk or parking lot over it.

I'm dying to go back to a house I used to live in and dig up some of my grandma's flowers, but I can never bring myself to knock on the door with a shovel and say, "Excuse me. I used to live here. Could I dig up your yard to retrieve what used to belong to me?" Maybe that scenario would work better if I kept the shovel in the trunk for first impressions.

Amy #6:

Amy, just inform them you are a Time Traveler on a mission to collect plants from another Timeframe & that, as a result, no specimens will be harmed in either Reality.

That should do it.

It's worked for me.

I often go back to the house where I grew up, but only in my dreams. The house was torn down many years ago, along with the rest of the neighborhood.

When I dream of it, I always feel comforted by being there, but know I cannot stay.

A few years ago, my sister and I drove to the location and tried to point out exactly where our house had been. Luckily, there was a tree we felt reasonably sure had been ours, and pointed in that general direction.

If I could travel back in time, I would video the rooms doing a walking commentary. "This one small bathroom was shared by a family of five. This is where we kept the one phone we all shared, and it was hardwired to the wall. This is the porch swing that my sister tied me to, and then forced me to eat the creamed peas she had learned to cook that day in homemaking. Oddly, I still like creamed peas. So much for sibling inspired PTSD. I moved on it seems. But, I still like those dreams.

Cynthia

Garrett wrote: "I often go back to the house where I grew up, but only in my dreams. The house was torn down many years ago, along with the rest of the neighborhood.

When I dream of it, I always feel comforted b..."

Nice sentiments Cynthia...I remember when we moved out of the house I grew up in for 15 years to a very nice new house. I was excited for the move and I wasn't leaving my home town just moving a bit within the town. My best friend understood more then I did the significance of memories associated with a place. He rattled off some great memories of the house and I said yeah but look how big my new room is now...

When I was younger mom would show me photos of family and siblings and often she would laugh when we would make a comment about the color of carpet, or what is playing on the TV in the background, or what game is being played...She would roll her eyes and say its a picture of your sister!! Yeah but isn't that a '57 chevy in our driveway?

Lincoln wrote: "She would roll her eyes and say its a picture of your sister!! Yeah but isn't that a '57 chevy in our driveway? ..."

For years I've had the habit of taking close up photos that avoid the background as much as possible. But now I wish I'd taken less close-ups and more pictures that assume that the place and time is also important. I think there's a happy medium though. My husband found some of his dad's old home movies and had them converted so he could watch them. The biggest hope was that he'd get to see his father in action for the first time since he died in the '80s. The reality was that it was all movies of places in time, mainly Fort Walton, Florida, in the 1960s with about 3 seconds of his dad. It was interesting to see how it's changed and to see big vehicles with tail fins driving around, but what was mainly missing were the people. Gotta have some balance. When I visit my grandmother this summer, I'm going to have to video her place as well as her. Videos and photos are time capsules in themselves. When a time is gone, it's gone.

Amy wrote: "Lincoln wrote: "She would roll her eyes and say its a picture of your sister!! Yeah but isn't that a '57 chevy in our driveway? ..."

For years I've had the habit of taking close up photos that avo..."

Well said Amy.

In elementary school (I think 5th grade) we made a time capsule for ourselves to open at the end of the year. The idea was cool but not enough time had elapsed for us to have forgotten about the stuff inside so it wasn't all that exciting. I always liked the idea of stashing something away in a basement or a attic or something and finding it many years later, which is why I like helping people throw out junk because you always find cool things.