Thursday, February 19, 2015

How Can It Be 2015 Already?

When Back to the Future came out oh so long ago, Marty McFly was forwarded to the year 2015. October 21, 2015 to be exact. Seemed like soooo long away, and now, we are in it. Huh.

It's not that I'm just now having that realization in the middle of February, but I haven't felt like saying much of late (no, I'm not sick) and now I do have something to say. Huh.

2015 holds all kinds of significance for me. I'll be 50 years old. My son will graduate from High School and start College. My husband got a new great job in Montecito and to there we are moving when Jake graduates. Kevin's already moved and we've been readying the house to sell and generally being more slovenly than we would be if Dad were home all the time. Sorry honey, it's the truth. We are not as neat as you.

I loved being by myself for about 8 days and then I was over it. I miss my husband and I don't really care for FaceTime as the only source of contact. But if that's the worst thing this year has in store for me, I'll take it.

I imagined 2015 in my younger days as this far off horizon where I would be wise, have enough money, be living in a house where I'd been for years, married to a great guy, with one kid. That's about as far as I got when I was 20 (Back to the Future was released in 1985 - I was 20).

The real 2015 shows me that I'm kind of wise, at least about some things. I have enough money. A house will never be a place I stay - I'm a Nomad of the Nomad Generation (read Generations by Strauss and Howe). I'm married to a great guy and I have one kid. Huh.

Every time I look at Jake, he looks more and more like a grown-up. I don't notice time passing so much because I do see him everyday, but if I see someone else's kid that I haven't seen in a while, THAT's when I see the years speed by.

Why do we have this bias? To not notice time passing all around us until something happens to bring it into stark relief? Is everyone like this, or is it just me? I used to be annoyed when all the older people around me would constantly talk about how fast time passed. I never noticed it. I told my Grandma one day that it passed faster for her because it was a smaller percentage of her life. At 70, a year is 1/70th of your life. At 6, it's a much larger thing (yes, 1/6th, I can hear you all, you know). My point being that as you collect time, it does seem to speed up. I guess I was wise back then too.

The fourth dimension. Time. Such a weird construct. Can we really go Back to the Future? Maybe. Maybe time is just a human construct so that we can make sense of the world and it doesn't really exist at all, so it doesn't have to follow our rules.

My prediction: In 30 more years, in 2045, I'll be a bit more wise (even if I'm dead - I'll surely be more wise then), I'll have enough money, I'll not be living in a house I've been in for years, I'll be married to a great guy (hopefully the same one - love you honey :)), and I'll have one kid. America will be bigger, faster, stronger and time will not follow the rules. Huh.