The Great-Grandfather Clock

There’s a clock hanging on the wall of our living room – an old Regulator clock that makes its presence ever known with the steady tick-tock-tick–tock of its brass pendulum. Its been in my family for a few generations now, starting with my Great-Grandfather who had it hanging up in his shoe shop in North Dakota.

When I hear the tick-tock-tick–tock of the clock, I am reminded that years and years ago, my Great-Grandfather listened to that same sound – the same ticking I hear now. When the pendulum stopped swinging, he would touch the same key we have to wind it back up. And when business was slow, he would look at the clock and wonder when it would be time to go home. And when his little shoe store was put out of business by JC Penny, he probably took that clock off the wall with a mixture of sadness, regret, and anger – his German temper getting the best of him.

When my Great-Grandfather passed away, the clock was given to his oldest son and his wife. It sat above a dining table in California, eavesdropping on the new family it belonged to. For decades it heard of the longing for children that fate didn’t allow and the pain of losing family and friends one by one as the years ticked by and the clock ticked on. At this home is where I first laid eyes on my Great-Grandfather clock and met the strong widow who owned it. When she passed away last year, she willed the clock to our family.

My husband is the one who now turns the key to wind the clock. I watch him and wonder how many times has that clock been wound before. Hundreds? No. Thousands? The same tick-tock-tick–tock I hear now has been heard for over 80 years by people who have long passed on. Sometimes I sit and listen to the ticking and feel a connection to those who heard it before. Tick-tock-tick–tock. It’s almost as if I have time traveled without really doing so.

From its new spot on my wall, the clock watches my children playing. It hears their screams of glee and anger and witnesses mischievousness and love and learning. It has watched our family growing and a baby developing and will continue to do so. When we move in about a month, the clock will be packed carefully and lovingly and will find a new place on a new wall. It has a home with us, it is welcome here, and always will be.