A Time Travel Story: Mom and Daughter (Part 1)

We believe we get a map to guide our kids.  It is a set of step-by-step instructions on how to get from the time when he or she was born to a happy ending.  What if we’ve got a wrong map?

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One day, Jenny read a novel called “when the coffee got cold”.  The story relates you are able to return back to the time of your choice.  No matter what you do, you can’t change what had happened.  Your time in the past starts when your coffee has been poured and ends once the coffee has gone cold. 

Jenny is thinking, under this condition, who does she want to talk to before the coffee gets cold? 

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Time travel back to 2 years before..

On that day, right here in the dining room. Jenny was sipping a cup of hot coffee, reading a book.  She saw her 25 years old daughter, Vivian, carried a backpack, and sat down beside her.

Vivian:
I had bought an air ticket.  The flight will depart 5 hours later.

Jenny:
You go to where? For how long?
 
Vivian:
I go to Paris with Jack, and we will settle down in there for our hair dressing career….
 
Jenny was furious:
You go with that jerk?! Alright!! Thank you for your notification 5 hours before the flight departure!  You know what? You are on the path of destruction…. You’re damn wrong to make this terrible mistake!!
 
Jenny felt angry, desperate, unappreciated because she had made so much sacrifice to this family but nobody thanks her for it.  She couldn't stand to ask Vivian to stay and raised the subject of a disagreement with anger and aggression.
 
“I don’t want to see you in the rest of my life.  Get out from here. Now!” Jenny said.
 
Vivian:
Mom, you know what? I hate you.

They don’t talk to each other from that day.

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A cup of hot coffee has been poured.  Time machine brings Jenny back on that day. She can stay there until the coffee has gone cold.  What would she want to talk to Vivian?

Jenny:
Why you do this to me? Why Jack?
 
Vivian:
Mom, I have no friends and feel difficult to get along with other people. Jack loves me. He cares for me. I know you would never proud of me.  I never would be the person you like.
 
Jenny:
What makes you think that way?

Vivian:
I failed twice before I was able to get into a university you wanted me to enroll.  However, I got finally dropped out of school.  You introduced me to your friends this way: “Vivian is a hairdresser, her sister is a banker, though.”  Why do you have to focus on my occupation and then say it in a way that makes it sound like you disappointed in my work?
 
Jenny:
I have no idea. I'm proud of you both. I didn’t intend to make it seemed that your occupation was what matters to me.

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Before the coffee gets cold, Jenny comes back to the present time.
 
Jenny was not able to change what had happened after the time travel journey. Vivian left her on that day to Paris with Jack.  The event hadn’t changed, but her thinking had changed, her perspective towards what had happened had changed.

She types the messages on the whatsapp to talk with Vivian:

From that day, they can freely communicate their concerns and needs to each other.

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Jenny thinks what if the time machine takes her to the future.  The future of 5 years later.  What will Vivian talk to her?  Go to Part 2

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