Blog 3844 – 06.01.2026

Time Travel

On this first day of June, I choose a subject that has long fascinated me – Time Travel. Movies and books upon that theme are among my favorites. Some years ago I read The Time Traveler’s Wife and when the movie came out I saw it several times in the movie theater and over the years I have owned and given away several DVD copies of the movie. I have lost track of how many times I have watched it.

A few years ago HBO broadcasted one season of a different take of The Time Traveler’s Wife. I thoroughly enjoyed it and even bought it so I can stream it again and again. I watched it again just yesterday. It was not popular enough with viewers to be picked up for a second season because the “woke generation” found the idea of a grown man visiting a little girl, teenager, and young woman in a meadow to be in a word  “grooming.” To me it was clear that the “grooming” took place on both sides. And there was no actual sex between them until the young woman was eighteen years old.

A few months ago I purchased an Audible version of The Time Traveler’s Wife and listened to it in my pick-up while running errands around town, but especially on the almost six hour round trip drives to our property in Bon Wier, Texas. Last week I finished listening to the Audible version and rewatched the movie. The six part HBO series emphasizes different parts of the book and one that I was particularly glad they did was where Henry contrives to introduce Claire to his long deceased mother, fame opera diva Annette Lynn Davidson.

After her performances and curtain calls Annette would often take questions from fans in the audience. Henry had a tape of her last performance, Madam Butterfly, that he had never listened to and so he asked Claire if she could ask his mother anything what would it be. She thought a moment and then said she’d ask her, “Knowing full well that all loves and lives end tragically why do people get together?” Then Henry plays the Q & A at the end of Annette’s last performance. She says that a young man came up to her after the previous performance and asked her to respond to a question that his girlfriend friend Claire wanted to ask her.

Annette answers Claire by name saying it is indeed true that all relationships end tragically and only last for a short time, that time short or long is worth it and so my advice to Claire and everyone is to, just “Get the hell on with it.”

Henry later in the story restates his mother’s philosophy about life and love. He says, “There are tragedies in our past and a brick wall awaiting us in the future all we have is now. We should make the most of it.”

We are all time travelers and as tempting as it may be to retreat to some idyllic time in the past or to fly to some dreamy future time, we should rather focus on making the best of today, making memories and living out this dream.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IIva_eqTiRZ60ClAAmDD8jT26cXU8f1u/view?usp=drivesdk

Time In A Bottle