The Time Keeper By Mitch Albom
Time is in charge, isn’t it! And, we never have enough time! A visit with Albom’s inspirational – and, I would even say, adorable – Father Time can remove your shackles from that view. Perfect time of year for it, too – when the aged Father Time with his golden hourglass is ready to hand it off to the diaper-clad baby.
In Albom’s The Time Keeper, we meet the boy who will become Father Time. Dor is madly in love with his wife, whom he met as a young girl. From the first time he can hold a stick, Dor begins creating time – he is the one who learned to mark the movement of the sun, and he is consumed by marking time. But then his wife, Ally, becomes ill, and Dor begs the heavens for more time. In answer, Dor is exiled to a place where he can never die. There, he hears an older male voice beg and bargain for more time, and a teenage voice who just wants to end her life.
I wondered how Albom would pull all these strands together.
But, he does. Masterfully. In an unforgettable legend with the perfect better-than happily-ever-after ending. And, it reminded me of the time I interviewed Albom about his first novel after his famed Tuesdays With Morrie – it was The Five People You Meet In Heaven. And, he told me that – from one journalist to another – he had long-ago promised himself that he would write other people’s stories in the first part of his life – and, in the second half of his life – he would write fiction. Albom told me he looked at the calendar and realized that he was suddenly at the second half. He told it to me gently, with respect for timing, for the clock and the calendar.
Maybe it’s the gentleness of the tale, but after readingThe Time Keeper, I believe it will be cozier – not as stressful – to write 2013’s New Year Resolutions. Number One: just fall into the moment, and enjoy!
Diana Page Jordan is a blogger for JenningsWire, a blogging community created by Annie Jennings.
