The future

“Okay — how did — ?”

And then Debbie pointed.

After twenty-two years of marriage, I always look when Debbie points. Always. This has served as a solid rule-of-thumb when anyone points but when Debbie does it she is often pointing to something I did, or didn’t do. Or something that the kids did or didn’t do or worse yet, something that they did that I suggested that they do — which as soon as she points out to me I realize was a pretty dumb idea. Why do they listen to me? But sometimes, Debbie just points at something that she wants me to see.

I didn’t know which one this was. So Debbie pointed and I looked.

The broken fireplace screen was where my eye went to first. But since I had developed a process where the fireplace still worked — if you separated the first screen, got the fire going, then leaned the glass into the frame, it could still be used — so this project had been given a lower priority on the household punch list. Anytime a device or a system still operates by simply adding another step or two, it is automatically reduced to C status.

“Yeah, I —“.

“How did —? How did this happen?”

So it wasn’t the fireplace screen. My attention moved over to the television.

The TV offer that was playing was advertising a new mattress where no payment was due until — and then the fireworks and the spinning graphic occurred — until 2015. But since our mattress was fairly new — it had only been three years since the insurance replaced everything when I burned our house down — I’d guessed it wasn’t the mattress she was pointing at.

“What?”

“2015?” she asked. “How did —-? 2015?”

Well, yeah. It was the end of October, 2014 which meant that 2015 was only a few —-. But she did have a —. She did have a very good point.

If Debbie and I were married in 1992 and since we are both now are in our thirties — aren’t we still in our thirties? —  and the kids are still small — wait, are they still small? — and I still have a 30 inch waistline then the date could only be somewhere in the —.

“2015?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, how did that happen?”

“I don’t —. I don’t know.”

A chill ran through the living room. I would have built a fire but the screen was broken.

How is this possible that it will soon be 2015?

2014 is one thing. Yeah, it’s a big number. Much bigger than 1985 or 1993, but  2015 is —. 2015 is the date when Marty McFly goes ahead in time in Back to the Future II; October 21, 2015. 2015 is futuristic.

A place where we can talk to people and see their faces on phones and watches and iPods and laptops just like George Jetson did — a cartoon character from the future.

So in a few months we will be in — the future.

So welcome everyone. We are almost there. The future. A place where Loverboy and REM are played in elevators and we can see Satellite Street photos of Zambia right on our phones. The future. Where The Shining is seen as quaint and we laugh at the special effects of the first Star Wars.

The future.

So what does this mean? What happens in the future?

Well, we know one thing. In the movies it’s the guy from the past that is always the hero in the future. It’s the one who comes from the 1980’s or 70’s or before in a time travelling Delorean, or steps into a time portal. It’s the one who can break the rules and see things differently. The character who thinks and acts by his own rules. Bravely. Creatively — which is so different from those people of the future and that’s the reason he wins.

So we are in the future. Yes, this is true.

But we are all from the past. Where the hero comes from. And we can only win if we keep what we have from the past and use it. If we stand out. If we remember.