Trying to imagine the future

I once read that the human being is the only animal that thinks about the future. It's hard to imagine yourself in the future. I think that's why so many of us do dumb things, because we're too caught up and mired in the moment. That's the reason we've made a mess of our planet - because being good stewards to planet earth requires us to not only imagine our own futures, but the futures of people many, many generations away.

Perhaps it's difficult to imagine our futures because we're afraid to think too hard about the bad or hope too much for the good. It's the twists and turns in the plot that make for an exciting story anyway. When I think about my own future, I know that my choices will very likely narrow and I'll need to become even more thrifty and less spontaneous (ouch!). Like many, I will need to draw inwards.

But I want to see what happens next! I want to see the future, and tell my grandchildren stories about black and white TVs without remotes, cars without seatbelts or GPS navigators, a time without cell phones or e-mail. I'll bore them all with my stories.

There is a small firepit area behind my house. I can see myself sitting beside the crackling flames, a scrawny, gray-haired woman, humming a song to myself. Here is what I hope: that I will have children and grandchildren and friends nearby, and they will want to visit me, that I can still write and snap a good picture, that my fingers can still travel the keys of my piano, and that I'll continue to enjoy the giddiness of love that I experience today.

Come a little closer.