WATCHIN

I have owned...I believe...about 6 watches in my lifetime. There might be a few more in there that I'm not thinking about...but that's pretty close.

I just started wearing one again in the last few weeks, after not wearing one for many years. That's my usual cycle. Wear one for awhile...let the battery die...not replace the battery...quit wearing a watch.

I never really missed wearing a watch all those years. It's different today than it used to be. Who needs to wear a watch these days? There's a clock on the dashboard of my car...there's one on my cell phone...there's one on the stove, the microwave, the TV...there's one in almost every room of the house...and the 'monster' that wakes me up each morning. Who needs to wear one...you don't have to look too far, or too hard...to find the time displayed on 'something'.

My first watch was given to me by my dad. He worked at the hardware store in Owensville and inexpensive Timex watches were on a display rack there, near the cash register. Since we moved from Owensville when I was 8, I assume dad gave me mine for Christmas in 1961 when I was 7 years old. We moved that next summer.

My next watch that I remember was given to me on Christmas Day 1972. Cindy bought me a watch for 'our' first Christmas together. We were dating then...it would be a couple more Christmases before we'd be married. I wore that watch for a long time.

After Cindy & I moved to Lafayette...and before children...we'd once in a while go to Anderson's Auction Gallery nearby on Friday night for entertainment. It was always interesting to see what would be auctioned that night...old and new...and exciting once in a while to bid on something. As long as you didn't buy...it was cheap entertainment for the evening...and we were pretty cheap in those days. One evening...Colonel John was hawking 'new' digital watches for $5...and I bought one. I think it lasted about as long as you'd expect a $5 watch to last.

Cindy again bought me the next watch I recall...a beautiful watch for my 50th birthday. I happened to get another watch at about the same time...not sure who gave it to me...obviously not Cindy. It was the first time I'd owned 2 functioning watches at the same time. I could alternate wearing one, then the other...until the batteries wore out on both of them and I haven't worn a watch since then...

...until last month, when Jaime & Shawn went to Gatlinburg and strolled through the Fossil watch shop...among the thousands of shops down there...and bought me a new watch as a gift. (For being the world's best dad!)

The old Timex that dad bought me...got lost among the shuffles of life in the last 50 years. The 2 that Cindy bought me are in Cindy's jewelry box. Someday I'll take them to a jeweler and have them repaired...or put in a new battery...whatever it takes to get them running...and I'll hand them down to my grandsons.

I hope they'll wear them proudly...assuming men wear watches then.


Dan