Memoirs

Where will I be in 2048? I was first asked that question in the spring of 1998 and I still don't have a convincing answer. Our final for 7th grade writing with Mrs. Crane was to write just that: our memoirs.

Seeing that far into the future as a 12 year old was a daunting task, in all honesty. Seeing that far is a little easier now, but in all honesty, still daunting. In my youth, I wrote that in my late 20s I was a fighter pilot that fought in a war akin to what the Cold War would've been if it wasn't Cold. I wrote that I was shot down a few times, but escaped with my life, unlike my comrades. We eventually won, and I retired to be a novelist. I lived peacefully and retained my sense of humor.

That assignment was probably the best thing I had written to that point. I do not have a copy to this day, but I wish I did. Things didn't go to that plan, but I never really intended to follow through with that plan. But it was the first time I had truly visualized it, that far into the future. To see what potential I had and what I could do with it. The world was getting more and more real. I was about to be an 8th grader, which was practically being in high school. Then I'd be off to Penn State and then ... and then?

Well, I got over wanting to fly planes around 9th grade and I know I'll probably never write professionally. I never got to Penn State. Eh.

I will probably retain my sense of humor by the time I get to 2048. At least I hope I do.