Do you own a time machine?

How many times have you wished for a time machine that could take you back to some time in the past so that you could relive some pleasant time, or maybe do something different that would change the present or even alter the future?

As far as changing the present by doing something different in the past, well, that type of machine would be too dangerous to exist.

When it comes to a machine that can alter the future, we already have that-it is called “the present.” Everything we do in the present can determine or alter the future.

As far as a time machine that may take you back to the past to relive pleasant time, we all have unlimited access to these in the memory of our minds.

Each of us has our own personal accessories to improve its performance. These accessories may range from a small ticket stub, or maybe a flower pressed in an old book...possibly it can be old photographs that bring back these dear memories.

Most of us in the LaSalle-Cadillac Club have a super-deluxe time machine in our beloved old cars. I know this is true with Phyllis and me and our 1940 LaSalle, nearly identical to the one we bought in 1950. All we have to do is get in the car and our “time machine” automatically turns on.

It is real easy to remember the many trouble-free and wonderful trips we made in that car. Phyllis and I had just been married at Camp Carson, Colorado, and that car was the envy of every G.I. on the post.

We can relive the trips we made to Denver to see my family and the ones we made to Montrose on holidays and long weekends to see her family. It is real easy to sit in our LaSalle “time machine” and remember the trip from our home in Colorado Springs to the base hospital the night our first son was born and his first ride in a car when we brought him home.

There were many trips around the state to show off our new son. These trips were cut short when I got orders to go off to war in Korea.

After moving all of our worldly possessions to Montrose for “the duration,” we left our baby with his grandparents and took a roundabout way to California before reporting for overseas duty. We visited friends and family on this trip, all of whom marveled at our “like new” LaSalle.

The “old girl” never missed a lick and really liked to run in the lower altitude. A year later, when I rotated to Japan, she packed up the LaSalle and with our son, drove to Seattle where all three boarded a ship and headed to Japan to join me. It was a memorable meeting in Yokohama and I was also very glad to see Phyllis and our son (oops, that didn’t come out right, did it?)

We toured Japan in this LaSalle and even took a long cross-country trip with another couple, driving our ‘40 LaSalle because it was more dependable and comfortable than their ’49 Packard.

When my tour of duty was over and it was time to return to the States, we sold that LaSalle for a handsome profit. We cried a little when we watched it drive off, and have regretted time and time again that we didn’t bring her back with us, Each LaSalle we have had since has been a “time machine” that helps us relive the pleasant memories we shared in our first LaSalle.

Early in November, Phyllis and I celebrated our 48th anniversary by taking a trip around Colorado, ending up at Fort Carson, where we went before an army chaplain to renew our wedding vows. The “time machine” of our mind transported us back to 1950 and changed the new brick chapel into the old wooden one where we were married and gave us back our first LaSalle, if only for a little while.

So you see, you do have a time machine—all you have to do is use it. Have you used your old car as a time machine lately? Try it, you’ll like it! See ya next month.

—Walt