Time Travelers

I heard the statement recently on a C-Span book review program that feelings are time travelers. It's taken me some time to digest this, turn it around a bit in my mind, and decide if I agree with the author or not.

The basis for the statement was that as we travel through life, we are able to let go of memories of events, conversations (for the most part), and a lot of the mental junk that would otherwise clutter our brains. But when attached to feelings, they become different and travel with us through life, springing up to our consciousness at the strangest times.

How true. I can remember a specific game of "Red Rover" on the school playground at recess when I was in the third grade. I played this game many times during my childhood, but this one game stands out in my memory because of a specific feeling associated with it. When the team captains took turns selecting team members, I was one of the last ones chosen for a team, probably because I was one of the smallest girls in my class. After the two teams lined up for the game, the first person from the other team to run across the field in an attempt to break through our line selected me and Linda Ham, who like me, was small. We weren't strong enough to stop her, and she plowed right through our locked arms, breaking our line. I was humiliated and felt quite the failure. After that game, I was never confident in my ability to hold the line, and dreaded it whenever "Red Rover" was the selected game for recess.

This is just an example of many memories that bubble to the surface of my brain from time to time. They aren't all painful as this one was, but also joyful ones and sad ones travel through time with me. I like to remember the happy feelings - a special first kiss, holding my new baby for the first time, receiving good news, reuniting with an old friend, reaching a personal goal - the list could go on and on. It is the feelings that keep my memories alive.

Yes, I believe that feelings are time travelers. I'm glad that they are.