Looking Ahead

2026. The country will be 250 years old. I’ll be eighty if I make it to July. The bicentennial was a fun time. I’m not sure what the semi quincentennial will be like. The name doesn’t really roll off the tongue. I suspect though that Fourth of July fireworks will be epic no matter what and I’ll probably be happy with whatever my little town cooks up. Heck, I may even go to the parade.

I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d get to be this old because my mother passed away at 49 and so I thought my genes would do me in. But here I am chugging along, slightly worse for wear, or a shell of my former self, depending on your perspective. I suspect the founding fathers thought the country had a fair chance of survival, but I think they also knew that anything run by humans had an equally fair chance of being torn asunder. Because, well, history.

Anyway, I’m glad I’ve seen so much history and live in this lively epoch where change comes rolling at us every day, so much change, in fact, that fifteen minutes ago seems like an eon. So far, I’ve managed to keep up or at least feel as though I’m keeping up. Although, I must confess there are days when I feel as though I ought to go home, turn off the phone, unplug my modem, and spend the rest of my days watching sunrises and sunsets, reveling in the simple act of breathing.