Whenever I go to an antique or baseball card show, it’s like a step back in time. It’s remarkable how some of these items have survived all these years, in spite of mothers like mine who threw away millions of dollars worth of “junk.” Some would argue that they only reason that these items have grown so much in value is because of such purging. Closets were cleared, attics emptied, and crawl spaces cleansed. Damage, rust, and breakage led to further extinction of our precious artifacts. As they say, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and once-considered throwaways are now keepers. 

A friend and I were talking about baseball cards this morning. When we were boys, it was somehow “cool” to clothespin these cards to the spokes of a bicycle wheel. In motion, it would clatter like a motor, giving us a sensation of speed. It was a childish, silly idea, but everyone did it. Thousands of Mickey Mantle cards were chewed up in this process, each with a current day value of at least $500, along with likenesses of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Ted Williams. The surviving cards are now protected by plastic sheets and air-tight cases, preserving their now-rare status. Oh, to be able to go back in time.

Before the days of Tupperware containers, basement floods did the worst kind of damage. You could still see a wrinkled, washed-out, stained version of your documents, photos, or other valuables, but they might as well have destroyed beyond recognition by fire. Also, items that that were stored were often forgotten and their values lost to rodents, birds, humidity, heat, freezing temperatures, theft, and obsolescence. After all these years, we see a shiny version of what we once had at an antique show, and wish that we had taken better care. They bring back misplaced memories of yesteryear.

My wife’s favorite book growing up was A Wrinkle in Time. A first edition copy is now worth as much as $2,800. With the release of the movie this week, the value will only go up. I love books and movies about time travel, so I’m sure I’ll be intrigued with this movie adaptation, although I’ve never read Madeline L’Engle’s novel. The Time Machine, The Time Traveler’s Wife, 11.22.63, Outlander, Time and Again, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Slaughterhouse Five, Timeline, Passenger, Back to the Future, If I Never Get Back, and Midnight in Paris are some of my “time sensitive” recommendations.

You don’t have to buy a book or movie ticket to time travel. Just go to a garage sale. Many of the items will literally take you back in time. If you want to spend some admission money, visit an antique show, museum, or historical exhibit. You don’t have to worry about accidentally changing the future, and there’s no jet lag when you travel this way.

I feel “time sensitive” today, especially considering that many of us will lose an hour tonight as we “spring forward.” When you think about it, it’s not really lost time, but rather a shorter day. Also, we’ll be on the receiving end later this year when we “fall back,” and that day expands to 25 hours. I will probably not miss this hour until my wife gets up for her Monday workday, as I’ll have to run in the dark. Later next week, I will then temporarily lose another 8 hours traveling east. This is all related to travel time not time travel, but nonetheless it’s still a wrinkle.