Several years ago, in Idaho on business with a few hours of free time, my traveling companions and I headed east and came across the Old Idaho State Penitentiary, just outside of Boise. Mary, Sue and I walked the grounds, listening to the docent talk about the history of the prison. Originally built as a territorial prison in 1870, over 13,000 convicts passed through its walls. The living conditions were sub-standard and led to a number of riots by prisoners, the last resulting in damages that lead to its closure on December 3, 1973.
Eventually I started wandering, as I tend to do. I discovered a rose garden, the solitary confinement area (know as Siberia), and then found myself in the prison laundry, face to face with an industrial-sized wringer.
Like many others, my paternal grandmother did other people's laundry, and she had a wringer in the basement. I remember watching her pass a tablecloth through the rollers, pressing it flat after which she carefully folded it and placed in in the basket with other laundry.
I had grown up thinking the wringer was called a mango. While the mango may be one of the most cultivated fruits of the tropical world, it was not a common sight at my house. I had never seen one before, so I had no reason to wonder why a fleshy stone fruit and a clothes press had the same name. When my childhood friends, who occasionally ventured into the basement with me would ask, I would confidently tell them, "That's a mango."
In the prison laundry, I stood, mouth agape. Holy crap, I thought, it was a huge mango! I had never seen one outside of my grandmother's basement. It was enormous. I gazed upon the pictures which hung on the wall showing prisoners using the laundry equipment, at the various pieces of machinery and, as my eyes moved up, to a sign that read "No Loafing, No Sitting on Mangle tables".
Mangle, not mango.
The the UK, it is called a mangle. More commonly known as a wringer here on our side of the pond, it is typically two rollers in a frame and was originally designed to wring water from wet laundry. Mangles are more commonly used to press or flatten sheets, tablecloths, clothing, etc. Mangles are an essential feature of commercial laundries. They are used to press flat items such as sheets or tablecloths, and happen to be faster at removing the majority of water when compared to a clothes dryer. Prisons were, or perhaps are, no exception.
While small domestic pressing mangles are typically not sold in North American home appliance stores or departments, although, as with many things, if you look hard enough you can find them. The Miele Rotary Iron is available for around two grand from Wiliams-Sonoma. And I apparently had missed the 1995 movie The Mangler, which was based on a short story by Stephen King about a large industrial mangle possessed by a demon which, to satisfy its blood lust, claims the lives of many victims.
Lesson learned: mangoes may be mangled, but mangles may not be mangoed.
My life does not always look exactly like I want it to. That's kinda besides the point, isn't it? Life is what you make of it, regardless of what it looks like.
What does matter is how you feel about that life. Do you choose to smile simply because it feels good? Do you provide kind words when you feel low? Neither of these depend on your situation.
Long-term happiness truly depends on your ability to notice things around you and appreciate the details. Even if you had everything you could want, there will still be highs and lows in life. Learning 
to enjoy the little things means you can find happiness and peace when something goes wrong, disappointed yet determined, knowing the simple pleasures are really what count and what will help you through to whatever comes next.
Find joy in the moment. It doesn't matter if it is small or inconsequential. We all have goals and dreams, the want of having a meaningful life, to positively affects others with our actions. Happiness is a choice, and while it is not always easy to make that decision, you will be better for it.
Happiness isn't as much about what you have, but rather what you do with what you have. What you have changes; how you decide to work with what you have is up to you.
In the 1960s, The Jetsons were set one hundred years out in 2062. Not a bad looking future, with flying cars and robot maids. In 1973, Soylent Green warned us that pollution, overpopulation, and the greenhouse effect could send the Western world into a new Dark Age in 2022. In 1982, Blade Runner depicted life in the year 2019, a polluted planet being abandoned for off-world colonies, molded by Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do 
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Back to the Future II depicted life in 2015, a scant three years away, as a much more pleasant place.
There are no flying cars, no jetpacks, no hoverboards, no robot maids. Of course, we're not eating soylent green, the world isn't entirely polluted and it isn't a police state either, so it isn't all bad.
Back in my day (oh geez...when did that happen?), schools had libraries rather than media centers, with actual books and magazines. What makes more sense as the future of libraries...digitized information or robots getting the book you wanted?
Sometimes the future we imagined wouldn't be better that what we can do now, just different. Cars don't zip through some highway in the sky, but they do have GPS and WiFi built into them. The flying car became the symbol of a future that never was, and one we are likely better off without.
We are not bound by what someone else thought one hundred or fifty or even one year ago. Napoleon Hill said it best: we are what we believe and where we believe we should be. Want to be different or be somewhere else? Change what you believe. The future’s not what it used to be, and that is a good thing.
Some nights, as I wait to fall asleep, I reflect upon the day; what happened, what it meant for today, what it means for tomorrow. Other nights, I think about love, past friends and good times. This week I have been reflecting on the uncertainty of our lives, how change comes when you least expect it, how forewarned is forearmed, how crystal balls tend to be fuzzy at best, how planning is everything but how plans are nothing.
Change hurts. Change makes us insecure about our abilities, and confused as to why it happened or what will happen. Life is easier when things remain the same. But that's not how life is. Life goes on, regardless of whether or not we control which way it goes, which is precisely why planning is everything and the plan is nothing.
In a few months I will be fortunate enough to visit the areas in Italy where my grandparents came from. What will I find there, who will I meet, what will I see? I could plan my trip down to the minute or hour or even to the day, but all that means is I will likely be constantly changing my plans. What is more important is that I plan to be agile and to be ready for changes. To do that, I will pack my bags what I think I need for the journey and discard the rest. I know my destination and what I would like to see when I arrive. I will head in that direction and work with the surprises that are put in front of me, changing direction as necessary.
As many others have said, it is the journey that shapes our lives, not the destination. It is the past, whether today or many yesterdays ago, that help shape our future, as we learn to react to things based on how we acted before. Fill your bags with things that will help you, not hinder you. Keep planning but be ready to make changes. And most importantly, keep moving.
Memories. They are enduring because they are so diffused, ingrained in a multitude of connections between numerous cells in our brains. Think of one thing and another comes rushing forward, then another. Relearning some piece of a forgotten memory can result in the unprompted recovery of more and more memories.
The same thing happens with thoughts and feelings. All it takes is a memory to trigger your thoughts and feelings, and you will find yourself in a familiar place.
Memories make up the continuing experience of life. They are what makes us comfortable with people and surroundings that are familiar to us, tie the past to the present and the present to the future. Who we are, how we act, what we think, are all due to our collective set of memories.
While memories do not recognize the boundaries of time or space, time, much like memories, can be fleeting. Make some memories today.
