The first time I met myself I was both 7 years old and in my late 40′s. The 7 year old me was on vacation with my parents in the bahamas. We had taken a Disney based cruise out from Florida and enjoyed a long vacation aboard cruise ship for the first time.
It was a bit strange to work my 40ish year old self into the situation. But somehow I managed to pull it off without coming across as a creepy old man.
I was struck with a twisted sense of melancholy. I could still remember and feel the childlike fascination with everything that was happening while being stuck with the fact that I had aged, and done so in not so pleasant ways.
Having the advantage of knowing that my father was an armchair physicist my older self was able to easily engage him in conversations about the world, the cosmos, and the intricacies of theoretical physics.
“You seem to be a very well educated man.” My father told me at one moment.
I took the leap, an important step in my plan… to tell him what was happening.
“I’m going to tell you something that you’re not going to believe at first, but you will believe shortly.” He looked at me questioning for a moment as I passed an envelope to him, addressed directly to him but his attention was quickly shifted.
We were interrupted at that moment by a character visit. Donald Duck had decided to make an appearance in the area and people were all agog to get pictures with the large costumed duck with their children. My older self offered to take a picture of my family with Donald from my father’s camera as a souvenir. This was at a time when digital cameras may as well not have existed, so they would only see the picture weeks after they had arrived home again.
Once Donald Duck had finished making the rounds, I rounded on my father. He looked so young at the time and again I was hit with the melancholy sense that time gives someone who has experienced it directly. I told him, “This will sound crazy to you right now, but later on tonight you’re going to open up that envelope I’ve given you and realize I’m not just some crazy old man.”
“Are you feeling ok?” He asked, thinking possibly that I was taken with sea sickness.
“I’m fine, ” I replied and continued, “and I want you to know I’ll be fine for a long time. I’m actually your son. I found a way to come back in time to help me out through my life. I wanted you to know because I was hoping you would understand. Just… please… open up the envelope later tonight.”
My young father was visibly disturbed by what I had told him. He looked at my younger self, and back to me. “I think we’re going to go play some ping pong on the pool-deck.” He said this as a way to get out of conversation with the weirdo.
Later that night, after the obligatory semi-formal Captain’s dinner, my 7 year old self would find my fathter hiding tears as he looked at the already developed, and slightly yellowed picture of us posing, with touristy smiles next to Donald Duck. Had my 7 year old self been more observant he would have noticed the date scrawled on the back of the photo. The date was the same day we were currently experiencing.
He seemed sad, but told me that everything was going to be great. Better than he had ever thought they could be.
