A Time Capsule is a Speed Trap of Memories

A few months ago, Disney began airing a show titled, “Girl Meets World.”  This show has it’s origins in a show titled “Boy Meets World.”  While watching the newer show, my wife and I began to watch older episodes of the original show.

“Boy Meets World” chronicles the day-to-day life of Cornelius “Cory” Matthews, Cory’s best friend, Shawn Hunter and Corey’s love interest, Topanga Lawrence.   The show follows them from the time they are in sixth grade all the way through High School.  It follows them as they get into trouble, deal with life and learn lessons along the way.

Recently we watched an episode of “Boy Meets World” where Cory finally receives his drivers license.  He and his father, Alan Matthews,  get into an argument.  This argument is a typical one for a child and father at this age.  Cory believes his father is not treating him as an adult and Alan believes Cory is still a child.  The truth of the matter is that they are both right!

Here in America, the law recognizes that an 18 year old is an adult.  The law also provides that some freedoms are granted younger than that as well.  We allow our children to get their driving permit at the age of 15.  This allows them to drive with an adult.  At age 16, they can apply to receive their drivers license and, once granted, they can drive on their own.  Many parents are not prepared for the degree of “letting go” that is required for their child to be driving around the world on their own, and most children are not prepared for the extreme responsibility required to operate a motor vehicle safely, nor are they prepared for the freedom that comes with that responsibility.

The Plot

Therein lies the plot for the episode.  Cory wants to take a road trip with his new license to exercise his new freedoms, but his father wants to hold on a little longer.  After agreeing they can go on the trip, Alan provides the keys to the car and allow Cory and his friends to leave.

Needless to say, they get into trouble quickly.  Now, Cory is a good kid, and his girlfriend, Topanga, keeps him on the right path as best she can.  But Corey gets caught speeding in a speed-trap and taken in front of a crazy judge.  Being Cory’s 16th birthday, the judge offers him a balloon animal!  Cory is encouraged by both his friends to call his father, but he refuses.  He wants to do this on his own to prove that he doesn’t need his dads help.

His father is aware of the situation, and “comes to his rescue.”  As the judge sees Alan walk into the courtroom, he tells Cory that he will drop the charges if he will just call his father and say that he was wrong.  Cory refuses.  The judge asks him why, and Cory responds by telling that judge, “Because I don’t believe I am wrong.”  From the back of the courtroom, his father begins to talk to Cory by saying, “I don’t believe I am wrong either.”  They have a conversation where Cory explains that he got caught in a speed-trap and they come to an understanding that they just see things differently, but neither of them are right, and neither of them are wrong.

The judge watches and listens.  He then decides to “pronounce judgment.”  He sentences both of them to 2 years.  He tells Cory that he is to remain a kid for 2 more years, and tells his dad to cherish those 2 years because they go by too fast.  He then informs them, “It’s a Speed Trap.” To watch this episode, click here.

It occurred to me that life truly is a “Speed Trap.”  As kids, we spend our lives wanting to “be an adult” but as an adult all we want to do is “Be a kid.”   While some of that is just human nature and “wanting what we don’t have,” I also believe that there is a simple lack of understanding on our parts as to what life is really like.  As we grow older and have kids, we want them to be small forever.  But, that is not the way the world works.  Kids grow older and move away and have kids of their own.  At least, that is the way it is supposed to work.

A Time Capsule is a “Speed Trap” 

I then began to think about our business.  I realized that we offer a temporary stop sign in that progression of life.  We allow you to capture a moment in time and preserve it forever.  We keep the memories of the way things were alive.  When our children are born, we gather the precious mementos, photos, and memories of that first year.  We pack them away in our time capsule to save forever.

When we have a moment like Cory and his father had, we can pull out our time capsule and, for a moment, our 16 year old is 6 months old again.

When they graduate high school, we can open our time capsule, and remember when they were 8 months old.

When they are married, we can return to the place where they fit in our arms and we thought it was cute when they spit up on our good shirt just before we left for work.  Since there was no time to change, we wore our stained shirt with pride. . . An Honor-Badge of being a father or mother.

We can return to that moment when we were in the hospital and held them for the first time, or smelled the new-baby smell that fades all-too-soon.

We live the moments of the first teeth, first steps, and first words, ever so briefly, and hold on to them for just a little while longer.

These are the moments that take our breath away.  These are the moments we live for.

We cannot live life in the past, and we cannot hold on to our little ones forever, but we can relive those moments every once-in-a-while with a time capsule. Trap your child’s memories in a Baby Time Capsule today from https://www.timecapsule.com/product/milestone-collection-baby-time-capsule-keepsake-gift/.

What would you put in your Baby’s Time Capsule? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

–  Mark