Time Travel.

What if you could travel back in time and change the outcome of your life? Would you do it? Would you make changes you knew would enhance your life so it would be perfect, or would you still want to experience mistakes along the way? I think it’s a tough question.

What if you didn’t marry that “special someone” and you never knew your kids? What if you could predict all of the events that were going to happen and you stepped in to literally “save the day?” You would certainly be the most popular person in the history of the world, but you might not like it either.

Last night I saw a movie called, “Hot Tub Time Machine.” Yes I am that kind of person who likes these kinds of movies, which are referred to in our household as, “movies you see by yourself.” I did. Just like Back to The Future, Peggy Sue Got Married, It’s a Wonderful Life and countless other movies where time travel occurs, it does make you think, “What would you do?” Since I am reasonably confident Hollywood does not emulate real life at times, these are just thoughts, I am not going nuts.

But, if I were able to go back in time, just for a day, week or month, I might make some dramatic decisions that I believe would affect the outcome of my life. Some are personal, some are not; I will stick with the non-personal ones. First I would have started exercising long before my 20s, I would have listened to the advice of my parents as I do realize they were indeed correct more than I had given them credit for, and I would have invented the Internet before Al Gore did. (Just kidding on this one, but I would have for sure not given up photography at a young age like I did.)

Other things I would have done include not studying as hard as I did---I am in sales it really doesn’t matter when I look back on it---but I would have taken more marketing and arts courses. Also, I probably would have invested in companies I could have guessed would have done well. I didn’t understand investments back then, so this would have been seen as “dumb luck.” So be it---Wal-Mart, Apple, Starbucks, and other iconic brands took guts to invest in, but I would have found a way to explain why I did it.

One thing I would not do is change the outcome of the kids who are in my world; I can’t imagine what it would be like to not know them, have them as a part of my life, and vice versa. (Wonder if they would say the same?)

The photo above was my dream when I was young. I wanted to be a goalie in the NHL. I never knew what got into me to think I would have been able to do this, as I was hurt so many times when I played. Whether it was the slap shot to the head that took away my hearing for 6 months in one ear, the bruises that lined my arms, stomach and legs, or just the wonderful feeling of getting yelled at for letting a shot get by me---I still wanted to be a pro. If I could travel back in time I would still want to be close to the puck in hockey, but instead of being in goal I would want to be behind it taking pictures.

Thanks for stopping by.