The Soothing Sound Of My Clock...!

Sitting on the mantle in my bedroom/office is a wind up clock with a nice chime.

Well, actually it's not a mantle, but just the top of the hutch part of my desk. It just sounds so much more romantic and classic to say mantle! Don't you think the mental picture you get is more pleasant with a mantle instead of the top of a desk?

Anyway, this old clock is one that I bought wholesale several years ago, when I first got interested in having things that would work without electricity, or in case of an EMP attack. It's not very fancy...in fact, for a wind up, chiming clock it's rather plain. But it does chime, and it does wind up...and it talks to me!

When I say that it talks, what I mean by that is that if you listen hard enough, if the room is quiet, if your mind is clear and open...the ticking of the clock as the pendulum swings back and forth makes the noises of an old friend!

The soft and steady ticking can almost force you to slow down, to calm the rushing of the thoughts in your head, and allows you to bring things into proper focus. It's funny, but when you can slow down your thinking just a bit things can suddenly start to take on a certain clarity.

I've grown accustomed to the slow tick-tock of my clock, and to the muted chiming on the hour and half hour. I rarely hear it any more, but I think that my body is so in tune with that clock that when it stops, I can almost feel it.

That's right, sometimes I forget to wind it up, and first thing I know...it either stops or starts running real slow. Usually it's the chime that's the first to go silent. When those chimes, muted as they are, go silent it doesn't take long until I get the feeling that something is just not right! One of those feelings that you can't really explain or pin down...but it's there just the same! Eventually, though, I notice that I don't hear the friendly reminder of the passing of time. I stand, sheepishly open the glass front, stop the swinging of the pendulum, and with the key I keep inside the clock (so that I don't lose it) I wind it up and, with a gentle push, start the swinging of the pendulum again. Once again, quietly in the background, is the comforting sound of the constant tick-tock of my clock. Once again the muted chime on the hour and half hour nudges me just enough to remind me that time still goes on.

The cats seem to be comforted by the old clock as much as I. Many times, I have looked up to notice Smokey on top of the "mantle", deep into the death like state that only cats can reach while napping, with his head right up against the side of the old clock. I can only imagine that the gentle tick-tock, accompanied from time to time by the chime on the hour and half hour, has rocked him to sleep. Makes a great picture as well!

I think that some day I would like to have a grandfather clock sitting in my cabin. I could sit there in my rocking chair, a fire crackling in the stove in the corner, a good book nestled in my lap and the cats asleep next to the fire...and let myself be quietly comforted by the constant but quiet tick-tock of my grand old clock that chimes on the hour and half hour. That is probably the best definition of inner peace that I will ever have!

Now, my friends, let's get some coffee and sit outside for a bit. If you listen real hard, you can hear the old clock on the mantle!