The Grandfather Clock

Over 30 years ago, when I lived in Connecticut, I bought a grandfather clock.  This is it.

It isn't the most elaborate clock nor was it terribly expensive.  But it keeps the time and sounds good when it strikes every quarter hour.

The clock has been moved a lot since I got it.  First it was moved from West Hartford to Tulsa. Then it was moved 4 times in Tulsa.  The next move was from Tulsa to Dallas.  From Dallas, it was moved to Sarasota.  Six and half years later, the clock was moved back to Dallas.  We've moved twice since returning to Dallas.  We finally found an apartment that we want to stay in.

The clock stopped working the first time we moved within Dallas.  It would run for 20 minutes or so and then stop.  The clock was level as it needs to be to run properly.  And I couldn't see anything wrong with it.  So I would start it every few days just to see what would happen.  There was no reason to think that the clock would act differently, but I restarted it every few days.  Eventually, I gave up.  I should have called a  clock repairman but I never did get around to it.  Then when our lease was up after a year, we decided to move again.

I set the clock up in the new apartment, the one where we live now, leveled it, and started it.  It ran for a short while.  So I restarted it  And it ran a little while longer.  I kept restarting it from time to time over a period of several days.  It wasn't really rational to expect the clock to keep running simply from constant restarting.  But eventually it did.  And now, with the help of a little silicone spray, it runs until the weights need to be raised.

Some people find the clock chiming every 15 minutes a little annoying, especially at night.  I had to turn the chimes off when my brother visited us.   The clock was outside his bedroom door and kept him awake.

When my son, Zach, came to visit, I asked if he wanted me to turn the chimes off.  He said, "No, it just sounds like home.".  He had grown up hearing the clock chime the quarter hour.  So the chiming did not bother him.

My wife Linda was tired of moving after having moved twice in less than three years. She told me that I had better like where we're living now because we were going to be hear for at leas 6 years.  I told her that if the grandfather clock kept working in the new apartment, it meant that this is where we are supposed to stay.

I don't really believe in signs like that.  But when I hear my grandfather clock strike, especially when lying in bed in the middle of the night, I feel at home.  So I guess we will stay a while.