The Brown Watch

     I get obsessed over a subject until I get bored with it and then move on to another. Well, this time I’m obsessed with watches so I decided to write about it. As I was fantasizing about being able to buy a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch, I remember my very first timepiece. When I was in grade school and whenever we went to the mall, we would pass by watches on the counter. Some of those children watches had Peanuts and Disney characters. You know the kind kids wanted. The kind I wanted, but I never asked for one. Then one day someone gave me a Timex watch for my birthday. It didn't have a Peanuts, a Disney, or any fun cartoon characters on it. Instead, it was a grown-up watch. Brown face with gold tone accents. It also had a brown strap.

     There was a tiny subatomic particle in me which appreciated a grown-up watch, but it was dark brown. Who would give a child a boring brown watch? I wanted to like it. I tried to like it. I wore to school a couple of times to try to break it in, but it didn't do anything for me. Did I mention it was brown?

     As I grew older, I grew to value the watch. It was elegant, timeless (pun intended), and classic with a slight twist. It was a rich dark chocolate brown watch. I would even say that timepiece was me. It was even a wind-up watch. It’s a shame that they hardly make wind-up watches anymore. Sadly, I lost my brown watch. Last time I saw it was during my middle school years inside a box in the basement with white paint on it.

     I don't blame my younger frivolous self. I just wish I appreciated that watch more. I wish I took care of it more. I could still be wearing that watch now. 

     And then there was another Timex watch I got on my birthday. This was a quartz and it has a clear face that exposes the working insides. Again, it wasn't me and again I tried to like it, but no. Seriously, doesn't anybody know me at all? It got tossed in a drawer. And years later, I too learned to admire it. It brought out the engineer side in me and luckily, this one I still have. 

     I got me thinking about taste and how it evolves. When you're young, so much of us is underdeveloped. Personalities we haven't formed yet. Like a child who hates bitter vegetables, and then later learns to crave them. In time, we seek out complexities, depth, and subtlety. It makes you notices the nuances of sweet things more. Taste is a learned skill you have to grow into. I believe that we don't find taste, taste finds us, and it finds us if we allow it to. No, it doesn't change or alter the world, but it does change and alter us. 

     It would have been nice to still have my brown watch. It would have been like a reverse class ring. Imagine having that watch through grade school, middle school, and high school. Imagine wearing that watch during my first job interview. It was not to be, but I'm glad I did get a dark brown watch instead of a cartoon character one. I don't think I would have longed for it as I do the brown one. Taste takes time so we must be patient.