A time traveler

Last night, I had one of those dreams that felt so real, it lingered with me even after I woke up. I found myself time traveling, but not with some fancy machine or portal—it was with my smartwatch. Somehow, this little gadget managed to send me back in time to my high school days. 

I suddenly stood in my old bedroom, and everything was exactly how I remembered it—same furniture, same posters on the walls, the same feeling of nostalgia washing over me. It was surreal. I hadn’t seen this place in so long, but it felt like no time had passed at all. 

Then I saw my mom. She looked just as she did back then, young and full of life. It felt like a gift, a moment I didn’t realize I needed until I was there. I ran up to her and hugged her tightly, savoring the feeling of being close to her younger self again. I hadn’t felt that kind of hug in years—the kind that only a mom can give, full of warmth, comfort, and a sense of safety.

In the dream, it seemed like I had control over when I could jump between the past and the present, just by touching my watch. So, when I pressed it again, I was suddenly back in the current day, in my adult self. It was such a vivid experience, and yet, just as I started to explore this idea of traveling back to the past, I woke up. 

What really got to me was that, in the dream, I didn’t get to see my dad. I woke up too soon, jolted out of the past by something as mundane as needing to pee. But the thought stuck with me all day. If only I’d had more time in that dream. If I could’ve stayed a little longer, I would’ve searched for my dad, hugged him tightly, and told him all the things I wish I had said about how much I missed him, I’d say sorry for any misunderstandings, thank him for all the love and support he gave me, and for being the best dad I could’ve asked for. 

This dream made me think—what if time travel was real, but not the kind where we go back to change things or fix mistakes? What if we could just visit? Just to step back into moments we missed the most, to feel the presence of someone we love, someone who’s no longer here. Not to rewrite history, but to reconnect with it. To spend one more moment with them, to say the things we never got to say, to feel their warmth one last time.