One morning I was rushing with last minute preparations before I threw myself out to the world.  I opened my valet and reached for a watch.  I was strapping it on when I noticed that it was not working. In the words of that immortal fairy tale Alice in Wonderland, “Oh, bother!”

Fussing a bit, I took it off and reached for a spare time keeper.  It too had stopped working.   Now, my mind had shifted from a last minute preparation detail to problem-solving.

Now I had two watches that were not keeping time.  Next, I picked up my dress watch.  It too had chosen a time in the past to freeze-frame.

That’s when I picked up my last hope and shook my head in dismay.  This must be a wristwatch conspiracy!  All of my watches had gone on strike.

Now I owned a total of four watches with dead batteries.  All were completely useless.  My hopeful solution of using back-up watches had proven futile.

Once my mind wrapped itself around the notion that I had no reason to strap on any of my watches, I wondered how creative I could be.  To wear a watch that wasn’t working just for the jewelry-effect seemed dopey.  Then, I did the unimaginable.  Knowing that I had appointments to fulfill and that time was certainly slipping away, I looked at my left wrist to check the time! 

Old habits die hard. I knew that I didn’t have a watch on.  Yet, I still looked at my wrist like I have every time that I wanted to know the time.  That’s a bit too obsessive, eh?

In a last desperate effort I got creative.  Each drawer in my valet was opened.  Then, I saw it.  A flash from the past welcomed my exploring fingers.

I picked up an old wind up watch.  Reaching back into my memory banks I rehearsed the steps to make this old faithful time keeper come alive.  It made me smile when the God-given memories from the days when this watch found new life for just a few moments.

Once I systematically reset the time, date and wound it up, I pushed the crown back into its recessed position.  Attentively, I looked at the second hand and it began to systematically tick one second after the next.   Ancient technology had come to my rescue.  The old had come through: durable and dependable.