My grandfather has a lot of rules, but his number one rule is: “Always respect time, and time will respect you.” For as long as I can remember, he has worn a classic, vintage wristwatch. It’s his absolute favourite possession. Last month, he told me the hilarious, and deeply meaningful story of how he actually got it back in the 1980s.
Grandfather had just saved up his hard-earned money for nearly a year to buy a high-end automatic watch. To him, it wasn’t just a timepiece, it was a badge of his hard work and success. He polished it daily and wouldn’t let anyone else even breathe near it.
One Sunday morning, grandfather’s younger cousin came over to visit with his pet monkey, a notorious little mischief-maker named Chiku.
The drama started during tea time. Grandfather had taken his watch off for just a moment to wash his hands. Sensing an opportunity, Chiku leaped onto the table, snatched the gleaming watch, and bolted right out the window into the backyard mango tree!
The Rescue Mission
“My heart stopped,” grandfather told me, clutching his chest dramatically. “That monkey was holding a year’s worth of my savings fifty feet up in the air!”
What followed was pure chaos. Grandfather ran out into the backyard, frantically shouting commands at a monkey who clearly didn’t care. He tried bribing Chiku with a banana. Chiku took the banana in one hand, kept the watch in the other, and happily chewed away.
“I realized I had to climb up,” grandfather laughed. “I started scrambling up the trunk, shaking the branches, and making wild faces to scare him into dropping it. But Chiku thought it was a game of tag. He leaped to a higher, thinner branch, lost his footing for a split second, and the watch slipped right out of his furry paws!”
Grandfather dove through the air like a superhero, sliding across the mud. He missed. The watch hit a stone fence with a loud crack and the glass shattered into a dozen pieces. The monkey simply clapped and swung away.
The Value That Remained
Grandfather was completely heartbroken. His prized possession was ruined before he could even enjoy it. He picked up the broken pieces, feeling utterly defeated.
But then, his own father walked out into the yard, looked at the shattered watch, and patted grandfather on the back. He said something that changed grandfather’s perspective forever:
“Why are you sad? Look at the hands of the watch. Even though the glass is broken, the gears inside are still moving. The time hasn’t stopped, and neither has your life. A watch is just a tool to measure time, but the true value is how you choose to spend the minutes you are given.”
Grandfather took those words to heart. He got the watch repaired, but he intentionally left one tiny, barely visible scratch on the side of the metal case.
“I kept that little scratch to remind myself of two things,” grandfather said, winking at me. “First, never leave your valuables near a monkey. And second, material things can break, but the memories and lessons we create with our time are completely priceless.”
Now, whenever I hear the ticking of my grandfather’s watch, I don’t just think about the hours passing by. I think about a flying monkey, a dramatic dive in the mud, and the beautiful reminder to value every single moment.