Time Is Ticking Away

I started to write this post on July 13th. In less then a month My Catholic Bard co-writer and partner and wife in life will be going to Ireland for the 2nd time together.

We last went in 2018 while living in Massachusetts. This time we will depart while living in R.I. U.S.A. When we left I still had this computer I am writing this post on. My daughters boyfriend had just moved into our house while our daughter had just moved out. That’s a story for another time. I honestly didn’t think this computer would still be in operation today. The laptop’s screen is dead but the computer is hooked up to a TV monitor Kristin bought on our first Christmas together. I had said I wanted a flat screen TV because we didn’t have one back in 2010. My father in-law saw our dinky little screen and gifted us a larger television to enjoy. Time has certainly gone by since then. And now we’re coming up on going to Ireland. Again. After 6 years. I wanted to edit our last trip together on video, but all I managed to do was this.

I need a new computer to edit more videos. I’ve been procrastinating. Our 2nd Ireland trip is coming up. It will be here sooner than they we realize. There is still some planning to be done on it and…

Time Is Ticking Away.

In 1931 Salvador Dalí (May 11, 1904 – 23 January 23, 1989) crafted one of the most recognizable works of Surrealism art.

The Persistence of Memory

Wikipedia tells us ...The year prior to painting the Persistence of Memory, Dali developed his ” paranoiac-critical method,” deliberately inducing psychotic hallucinations to inspire his art. He remarked, “The difference between a madman and me is that I am not mad.” This quote highlights Dali’s awareness of his mental state. Despite his engagement in activities that could be seen as insane, Dali maintained that he was not actually mad.

That was in 1931 during the great depression, when selling alcohol was illegal in the United States. It’s now 2024 and the Persistence of Memory is still in the memory of art lovers. Memory is what connects us to the past and connects history to the present reality of those living. Our memories of our first Irish trip lives in the pictures, mementos, the un-produced videos and thoughts. Were about to add to it soon. At the time Salvador painted his saggy hanging clocks my future present had not yet begun. But in his past present reality he lived he could say

Time Is Ticking Away.

The Christian Hip/Hop Grunge group DC Talk once graced the Contemporary Christian music charts with their brand of beats talking about the Lord. The song Time is… appeared on their 1992 album Free at Last. 1992 is the year that I got my associate degree at Dean Jr. (now just Dean) College and entered Fitchburg State College. Kristin was finishing up her senior year of high school which was really her attending the Community College of Rhode Island as a concurrent enrollment student. We would meet the following year in 1993. DC Talk has broken up and gone their separate musical ways. But my memory of the songs persists much like Dali’s painting and my Irish memories. They remastered their song in 2013. We are redoing our Irish trip in 2024. Gosh, their is so much to do before we go and

Time Is Still Ticking Away.

Recently my friend John J. Burke whom I used to work with at the Cable Studio in Beverly, Massachusetts at the end of the 90’s wrote this on his FB page.

My mom’s eldest sister just passed away. All 4 siblings from grandfather’s first marriage are now gone. Im lucky to have some aunts left, but this reminds me that we don’t have much time; I’m now the same age my mom was when she died.

John and I used to hang out more often. But Time ticks away and people drift to different areas of life. But our Memory persists in connecting us together. John understands the reality that Time is ticking away. The older generation is gone for him and he knows he has to prepare for his departure. Kristin and I have prepared for the end of our earthly pilgrimage recently. We signed our Last Will and Testament. This is the definitive act that reminds us that our departure from this life is definitely going to happen. At a prayer group we recently attended the deacon reminded us that death is inevitable. Even if God will heal your earthly wounds, death is still going to happen. When Jesus raised the 12 year old girl and Lazarus from the dead, they both had to die again. Death is a reality and filling out your Last Will and Testament is a reminder of that.

But that is just one part of getting ready. The more important part comes in making sure that you continue to make new memories with your loved ones. Because there is more to this life then just living and dying. Steven Curtis Chapman sang about this back in 1989 and my memory called this song to the present as I write about Ireland, Time and Memory.

There is more to this life which is why Kristin and I go to Eucharistic adoration.
There is more to this life which is why Kristin and I go to Mass.
There is more to this life which is why Kristin and I go to confession.
There is more to this life which is why Kristin and I pray the Divine Office, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary.
There is more to this life which is why Kristin and I try to love our neighbor both in our friends, enemies, the rich and the poor.

St. Paul has some advice about how to treat the other people who we make memories with.

Bless your persecutors; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same attitude toward all. Put away ambitious thoughts and associate with those who are lowly. Romans 12:14-16a

We will go to Ireland soon.
We will die soon. Hopefully not to soon.
But in the scope of time, soon.

I’m trying to write and create enough original content to pop up in the Catholic Bard when we once again go to visit family in the emerald isle.
But now it’s time to stop writing this post and spend that time with Kristin on my day off from work before the day gets too old.
Because…