January 15, 2011
Raleigh, North Carolina
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| What does the future hold? |
Dear Jeff,
It is January 15, 2011 and I am writing to you in the future.
I am actually blogging to you in the future but I doubt in 20 years blogs will exists. They will be so ‘early 21st century”. We will probably have these advanced thought computers built into our brains and the cool flying cars from The Jetson’s that were promised to us 40 years ago.
I am actually blogging to you in the future but I doubt in 20 years blogs will exists. They will be so ‘early 21st century”. We will probably have these advanced thought computers built into our brains and the cool flying cars from The Jetson’s that were promised to us 40 years ago.
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| The Jetsons |
Please read this blog in 20 years when you turn 77. Why 77?
I don’t know but it is the first number that came into my head and it had a nice even ring to it. Since I am about to turn 57 in several days, reading this 20 years in the future feels right. When you read this letter from me (your 57 year old self), I know you will look back at me kindly knowing that I have worked hard to be a loving and compassionate husband, son, father and friend. The sadness in my heart from my father’s recent passing and the death of Aunt Annette and all of my grandparents will be comforted by knowing that I am still with them in your life today- just in a new and different form.
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| Mom Bea |
The good news is that I am confident that my mother will be 103 when I read this post and will still be dressing up as a bumblebee for Halloween…probably the Queen Bea. Mom, who has the genes of her father Poppa George, will continue cooking for Mitchell and Leslie on Tuesday nights just because she can and because they love her jello mold and chicken a la king! Mom will still be cheering on The New York Mets who by 2031 will still be in last place but with great prospects for next season.
By 2031, I will be retired from full-time working. My guess is that you will be living in a very warm climate (definitely not Florida ) and most likely Hawaii
At age 77 you will still find the number 32 funny. (That’s a story for a future post).
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| Still a funny number |
Sarah will be 49 years old and my bet is that she will be married with children. At age 49 she will be as beautiful as she was when she was 4 years old. Her hair will be wavy and still shine and her smile will fill you with happiness. Her life will probably still be centered on children either teaching, social work, outdoor camps or some similar activity.
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| Sarah and Jeff |
I bet she found someone special to share her life with, and he is someone who learned quickly that he only needed to love her half as much as I did, since I have been telling Sarah since she was 4 that a special someone who loved her half as much as I loved her, would have a full heart to give.
I imagine there will be little Sarahs, too, with beautiful eyes and tender loving hearts. It’s hard to imagine the word Grandpa since I can only think of my own grandfathers and father but I bet I will adjust quickly. Going to the beach will be a regular and frequent part of her life and Ra El and I will be close by to see her children regularly.
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| Fanny and Jeff |
Fanny will be 45, and by this time and after several academy awards, I bet she will be ready for a break. Her life will be filled with Hollywood stories but it would not surprise me to find her also married with children. She, too, will be as exquisite, beautiful and silly as she has always been. Her writing will lead her to several blogs which will lead to books and expand to screenplays and beyond. Her limitless talents will soar and she will be very fulfilled by her success. She will probably turn down the chance to replace Conan or Jay Leno because she will want to take care of Olive (meow) who will be almost 21 years old. She will also want more time to visit her best friend Sara in South Carolina who by now will have a chain of bakeries making polka dotted cupcakes while raising several children.
She, too, will have found someone special (model/actor/bartender) and it would not surprise me that Fanny would have a family. Fanny’s children would be doing all kinds of unconventional things that will drive Fanny crazy. When asked to set the table, they will protest the way her mom does it and put the fork on the left! (Note: see Fanny’s blog for an explanation) A 45 year old Fanny will also have a small collections of dogs, cats and possible a kangaroo named Henrietta. She will make her children watch Friends reruns to help them fall asleep. For a hobby, the family will create paper houses for frogs and insects to live in.
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| Ra El and Jeff |
Ra El will have written or perhaps more accurately will have channeled several books with important stories that will alter the lives of millions. These books will be able to create and support a new consciousness of being through words and pictures that come through her. She will occasionally make trips to other planets and galaxies and will have created several new languages that will be used by many nations.
She will continue to gain great strength as she ages, although in her case youthens. She will find time for painting but her canvases will go beyond typical size, color and dimension as we understand it today and instead she will use light in ways no one has ever considered. These light paintings will be heralded as masterpieces and displayed throughout the galaxy. By this year, 2031, she may have finally finished editing her 25,634 photos of spaceships over Mt. Shasta using Picasa, and moved on to sending us 48,484 amazing photos from aboard the Mothership.
So, you have a lot to look forward to for the next 20 year period. Make sure that when you are 77 you don’t have any regrets of things that you wanted to do but just never got a chance. Don’t use any excuses for not living life to its fullest and finding patience, compassion and love in all things that you do each day. Most of all, when you read this blog, remember that the greatest gift we have is that life only exists in the now because we can’t live in the past or the future.
Enjoy each moment now before they becomes moments later.
Footnote: The idea of writing a letter to my future self was inspired by a movie I saw on a flight back from Europe . The film, The Age of Reason, is in French and should be available in the US
So cool, I really want to see the film. This post will be a small contribution to your “buried” interactively time capsule. I told the kids it would be cool to have one in the back yard when we saw a time capsule in the grounds of “North Hills”, someone put on in there in the 70’s, can’t remember when it’s suppossed to be open but I bet not soon. Or how about someone making it a reality for us to travel back and forth in time through a “Time Machine” as HG Wells imagined in his film,that would be amazing, but in the meantime that happens, I second that life is here and now and let’s not waste and or ponder in what it was or what it could be, but enjoy life to the fullest now, we only have (most of the times) only one chance.
what an awesome look into the future. funny…”the time machine” was on TV yesterday and i watched the first part of it. i’m pretty sure the year he ends up in the future is somewhere in the 2030’s. i have a funny feeling all of your predictions for twenty years from now will be true 🙂 i plan on letting my kids set the table however they want, but i hope the fork stays on the right. it’s funny to think of olive as a 21 year old. thank you for writing this and for most importantly reminding us to live in the now and appreciate each moment. ily.
and i’m pretty excited for my kangaroo.
If I were to do anything like this, I would probably send death threats, telling me I know where I live, or send myself a letter with something super cheap now that will be worth millions then, maybe like a twinkie or something. Maybe I would just send a note saying, “Send money,” or something. If you really wanted to shock yourself predict the future being roughly the same, and be right, add 2 eggs and a teaspoon of flour. Whisk lightly.
This letter was very nice!