Back to the future

Yesterday was the 21/10/15, the year that Marty McFly and Doc Brown flew the Delorian 30 years into the future from 1985 and landed here, in the future. Of course, the funny thing is the moviemakers didn’t get much right about what they thought today would be like. As I sat with a group of kids in an afternoon program we run and talked about what 2045 might look like, which is 30 years from now, I must say the kids didn’t have a lot of positive thoughts about what it might be like. It wasn’t very HOPEFUL. Like the movie makers who didn’t get much right, let’s hope the kids are not correct in thinking that 2045 will be bleak and not very HOPEFUL. We live in challenging times. 30 years is not long. A lot can certainly happen as CHANGE is happening faster as each day goes by.

I decided to have a “back to the future” night with my family. We spent the night around the dinner table, eating together and thinking about what it might be like in 2045.  My husband would be 82 and I would be 77, so we were hoping we would simply be around. Our kids would be the age we are now, so that was an interesting thought. The kids couldn’t imagine being as old as us and what they might look like when they are approaching 50 years of age.

What was more interesting was that when I thought about where I was 30 years ago on this day (1985), I realized I was 17 and doing my HSC, just like my son is doing today. I pulled out the photos of me in the school quadrangle and as it is the same school as my kids go to today, they were fascinated to see their school and me in the school uniform 30 years ago, doing exactly what my son is doing today. My husband was my boyfriend back then and so there were pictures of us dating and being together in 1985. It only seemed like yesterday ...boy, does time fly.

Being a writer even back then, I pulled out letters I had written to friends and my boyfriend (my future husband), my family and generally my thoughts. I loved reading the letters/poems and getting an insight into what I was feeling 30 years ago.

We laughed and talked together as a family about what the year 2045 might look like, what wouldn’t exist?  What would NEVER change!  What we HOPE would change and where we see ourselves in 30 years. Each of us shared what we hoped for in 2045. It was special to think that the things that were most important for us ALL were family, to be happy and to love and serve God with all we have. These things need never change no matter what year it is. They are values that are timeless and they were important to us all. The children shared first and they led the way on these values. It is my daily prayer that these things never change but continue to grow in us all.

I brought out a box and some paper and we all decided we would write to each other and to ourselves to be opened in 2045. Given that there may not even be paper and pens in 2045, we thought this might be a novel idea. My Daughter will be the keeper of the sealed box until 2045 and if we are all around we will open it together. Being the writer/talker she is, her letters will be the longest so it makes sense she will oversee this process.

THEN WE WATCHED BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 TOGETHER AS A FAMILY.

It was a fun night, we talked about the future and the past, but what I loved most about it was the PRESENT. The time we spent together, the conversations, the laughs, the jokes, the listening, the jesting, the challenges, the sharing of fears and dreams, the hearing of each other’s heart, the things that were said that will be forever remembered and the memories we created around the dinner table on the 21/10/15.

Time flies by very quickly. My encouragement to you all is that you take whatever moments you can TOGETHER, be intentional, use every excuse to get together and share life. If a movie made 30 years ago, can help create a night like last night, anything can. What can you plan to do together TODAY?