A Wrinkle In Time

Be very careful if you are traveling north on U.S. Highway 151 between Beaver Dam and Waupun, WI. Somewhere in that 10 mile stretch of highway, there is a rip in the fabric of time; a time warp; or something akin to the Twilight Zone.

I was moving up that stretch of road, the wind whistling in the windows at 65 m.p.h. Heading for my grandson's birthday party, I was in pretty good spirits. Nothing could have prepared me for what lay in store for me.

My arrival at the party was uneventful--visited with my daughter and her best friend for a couple of hours, waiting for the guests to arrive. When they did arrive, I realized that I had traveled back in time, to an earlier era--one of innocence and rebellion, of flowers and free love. Yes, oh Reader, I was back in 1969, and the only thing missing was the Magic Bus.

There was the guy who had blond dreadlocks who was so stoned that he was almost willing to eat meat!--as long as it wasn't red...

There was the requisite number of maxi-skirts and peasant blouses adorning the female guests, who stood or sat nibbling on veggies with hummus dip, or vegetarian taco dip, or the berry salsa served on organic cinnamon grahams.

Then, the one thing that clinched my arrival in this bygone era: my son-in-law's father. This man had to have done way too many drugs, because, in the parlance of the day, he was fried! He has met me on numerous occasions, and at each one, I have had to be introduced over and over again--and yesterday was no exception. He walked over to me, looked at me quizzically, so I said "hi". He frowned, said "hi" back--and asked who I was! Then, just a couple of minutes later, he went to my son and asked him who he was. My son said, "Jesse", and Steve, my daughter's father-in-law said, "Jesse who?" Jesse replied, "Jesse [Lastname]", to which Steve asked, "Who's that?" My son, who has the same patience with which I am graced (none, that is) replied, "Jack's son (that's me)." Steve asked, "Who's Jack?" Jesse snapped, "Micah's grandfather!", and walked away.

Now, I know this guy doesn't have Alzheimer's...it wasn't diagnosed back in '69. So it has to be way too much 'acid' or something.

Needless to say, my discomfort at being out of place--and time--prompted us to leave early (of course, that was coupled with my being scheduled to work later that night).

Luckily, the time portal was still open, and shortly after leaving Waupun, we felt safely back in our own time.

And so it goes...