Howdy folks, welcome back. It’s been a while. Despite my attempts at updating this blog more frequently, that simply hasn’t worked out too well. A number of things have played into that, none of which will be discussed at this point. Get over it. No, tonight I’ve returned because I’m working on a rather time consuming project, and I’d like to enlist all of you to help with it. It’s a bit audacious, a bit grandiose, a bit mad perhaps. And while it is actually an idea I have been kicking around for a few months, it’s a bit of a slap in the face to that stupid Google Chrome commercial.
Here’s the idea: I’m creating a perpetually growing time capsule for Axel, a sort of window into the world, not at a specific time or place, but over a long period of time. I’ve created an email account for this project (axels.time.machine@gmail.com) and I intend to send him emails regularly about what he did on a particular day, milestones in his life, interesting things that he may have said or done and random tidbits about the world at the time. Someday when he grows up a little, I’ll give him the password to log in and read all the messages from the past.
Of course by now you’re asking yourselves “Gee that’s cool, Barry, but where do we all come in?” Well, I’m glad you asked. You all come in whenever you’d like. I want other people to email him too, with birthday wishes, advice, funny stories and jokes, suggestions for books to read or records to listen to, just about anything you feel like telling him. Send him pictures of your kids, they may be close friends someday! Tell him ridiculous stories about the good and bad times you and I may have had in the past, I promise not to be embarrassed.
I’ll log into the email account only frequently enough to keep it active and maybe archive the messages (by month or year or whatever), but that’s it. I won’t be reading any of your messages, won’t be editing, altering or deleting anything at all. This is entirely for Axel. I hope that someday when he reads all the messages he will recognize familiar faces and names and have an amazing window into the world around his as he grew up. I’m not asking anyone to write novels for the kid, just whatever you might feel like telling him whenever you feel like telling him.
And that’s it, that’s the task at hand. How many of you are up to it? Think of the international best-seller this could turn out to be in twenty years! Will Oprah have a book club to recommend it? One can only hope so. Thanks friends, let’s get crackin!
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