Five Things I've Learned From My Grandfather Clock

I inherited a wonderful grandfather clock a couple of years ago. It is more than 200 years old and has been in our family for at least a hundred of those years. I have loved this clock since I was 7. It stood in my Great Aunt’s huge Terra-like home in Beaumont, Texas. She had gotten it in England and had it shipped duty free in the early 1900’s.

When I first met the clock, it wasn’t running. I asked Auntie why she didn’t fix it  - she said it felt like it was ticking her life away.  So the clock stood silently for another 60 years. It moved to my grandmother’s house, then my mother’s house in Georgetown, Texas. It took a long trip to Tucson, Arizona when my parents moved there. And it finally traveled in the back of a U-Haul to my home in Oxnard, CA.

An antiques dealer laughed at its disrepair. She said it was essentially worthless.  But it wasn’t worthless to me.  I wanted it to live again. So I searched for someone who could fix antique clocks. I basically heard from everyone – it’s a piece of firewood.  Then I came across a 3^rd generation clock guy.  He came out, took it apart and announced it still had all its necessary parts to run. It would need a pendulum, some weights and some cleaning of the 200 year old dust, but he was up to the challenge.  Six weeks later, just in time for Christmas, he brought it back.  He had touched up some of the places where the veneer had come off and he had gently cleaned the case and mended the foot. He set it up in my front hall, wound it and the grandfather clock was alive again!

It now stands in my hallway joyfully ringing every hour on the hour and it means the world to me.

I learned a lot from this experience. Here are the top five bits of wisdom this clock has given me:

1.     You are never too old to start over – Our world would have us believe that only young people have all the viable ideas and creativity. Hollywood learned after a lawsuit that people with age and experience still have stories to tell and the ability to tell them. Businesses let senior level people go because they are expensive, only to discover they just lost a knowledge base that was crucial. I think its important to recognize that there is always something you can do or try your hand at.  Never let someone tell you that you are too old for what you want to do.

2.     Your worth is not based on what others say about you – This is a lesson that everyone at every age needs to learn again and again.  If you based your value on what other people think, then you will have an ever-shifting sense of yourself. Everyone is valuable and loved by God. Believe that, because it is true. And live your life knowing you are loved and you have value.

3.     Life is a journey, embrace each season – You will experience different seasons of life. Nothing stays the same forever.  School. Work. Marriage. Children. Grandparenting. Retirement. End of life. Each time period carries with it unique requirements and issues. Raising a baby is different from raising a teenager. School is different from the working world.  Be adaptable. Its ok if you are confused when you are transitioning between seasons. Just about the time you get comfortable in your current season, the next one will arrive.

4.     Love and determination can overcome any obstacle – This is a bold statement.  But if you are determined to succeed at something and if you truly love what you are doing, you will wear down the opposition. Keep searching. Keep trying. Don’t give up.

5.     Age can be beautiful – Someone asked me if I wanted my clock to be completely refurbished to look brand new again. I was horrified. No!!! This beautiful clock has been around almost as long as this country. The weathering of those years makes it more beautiful to me.  The Grand Canyon’s age is what makes it grand; otherwise it would just be a meandering river. Youth is lovely, pretty, innocent. A life well lived is magnificent!

I treasure my clock. It is a daily reminder of the long line of wonderful women I am related to.  It connects me to the past even while the pendulum moves time into the future.  I don’t see the clock as “ticking my life away.” Instead, I see it as my clockmaker described it, “The heartbeat of my home.”