Recent themes in our book club selection The Time Traveler's Wife and a roommate date viewing of the film Midnight in Paris have rekindled those long forgotten yearnings to see firsthand what life was like back in the day.
I'm not particular about what "day," just that it was before, 'ere, long ago.
Like many fashionable, chic, social butterflies (read: sarcasm) of my generation, I find myself hooked on Downton Abbey. I am drawn to the propriety, the fashion, the customs. Unfortunately, since the premise of the first season is Mary's inability to inherit because she's a girl and has no rights, I don't think I would really get along back in those days.
But to be an observer?
To watch some of the greatest speakers in their prime - King, Lincoln, Kennedy, Hitler even.
To take a ride in a horse and buggy on unpaved roads, and so learn to appreciate the smooth, air conditioned "stop/start" of rush hour in our own time.
Books are the closest thing to time travel, it seems. Movies and tv shows can capture some essence of the look and feel, but novels let you into characters' heads. Oddly, if I had lived in medieval times or colonial America or Spartan Greece, I probably wouldn't have been able to read anyway. Literacy, of course, being a threat to hierarchies and male power and all that.
As Gaston says, "It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas.... and thinking..."
But enough about literacy. This is about history... and living in it!
I have no desire to actually go back for good, Kate and Leopold-style. I enjoy my Diet Coke, my Google, my penicillin, and my paycheck (among other things) too much for that. It would be super cool to go see it, though.
I mean, I've always had a thing for boys in cravats...
I know it is more traditional to "give up" something during Lent. I guess you could say I'll be "giving up" reality for just a little bit. The next 40 days (and posts) are dedicated to dreams. So we're giving up limitations, fear, uncertainty.... and allowing ourselves to dream no matter how wild or crazy or out-of-this-world that dream might be!
40 Days of Dreams
Day 20: Learn a new language.
Day 21: Make a difference.
Day 22: Trace my ancestry.
Day 23: Go Greek.
Day 24: Discover something.
Day 25: Visit Ireland.
Day 26: Throw a singles party.
Day 27: Go ghost hunting.
Day 28: Learn to ballroom dance.
Day 29: Get a professional massage.
Day 30: Go back in time.
Day 21: Make a difference.
Day 22: Trace my ancestry.
Day 23: Go Greek.
Day 24: Discover something.
Day 25: Visit Ireland.
Day 26: Throw a singles party.
Day 27: Go ghost hunting.
Day 28: Learn to ballroom dance.
Day 29: Get a professional massage.
Day 30: Go back in time.
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