These circumstances only serve to amplify the shocking nature of the technology that we can employ in our world today to communicate and recreate.
Most of my time in eastern Iowa was spent during the 1970's an 1980's. That doesn't seem like all that long ago, but in terms of technology, it's ancient history.
Sometimes I play a little mind game that I like to call "Time Machine". Wherever I am, I close my eyes for a few moments and pretend that I'm 21 years old. When I open my eyes, it's not 1985 any longer...it's today. And then I observe my surroundings with a fresh set of eyes.
If I were to do this exercise right now (and ignoring the fact that I have a tiny keyboard with an iPhone parked on my lap), here's what I might observe.
First of all, I would observe that I'm in a vehicle of some sort heading east on I-80. That wouldn't feel so weird...I could have travelled this same road 26 years ago and not much would have changed. I would note that the vehicle I'm in is a bit different than my experience, but I would recognize it as a minivan. As I look to my left, I would see the strawberry blonde woman driving and immediately recognize her as my soon-to-be-wife. She's obviously older, and as I position the visor mirror, I would see that I am obviously aged as well.
As I looked around the cabin of the van, I would start to observe some things I don't recognize. There's a small rectangular box sitting on the console between me and Rhonda. Again, or purposes of this edition of "Time Machine", I'm ignoring the stuff on my lap as I write this. Rhonda picks up the "thing" and moves her finger across its glassy surface. Suddenly, the unrecognizable music playing on the radio changes to something I can relate to..."She Bop" by Cindy Lauper. I note that there's a cord running from the thing to the cassette deck in the stereo of the van.
After she sets the thing back down on the console, I look at it to see that the glassy surface appears to have a number of small colored boxes on it. Icons, I think. I pick up the box and it appears as if its some sort of video screen. When I touch the surface of the screen, a picture of Cindy Lauper appears mysteriously. There is nothing in my experience (in 1985) that provides me any context about this device and its purpose, other than the fact that it seems to be playing music through the van's stereo.
I'll end my TIme Machine exercise there. If I were conducting this fantasy in other circumstances, such as in my office at work, my observations would be even more remarkable.
As I wrap up the blog, now back in 2011, I'm heading toward a weekend getaway with my bride of 26 years in the town I was born a bit over 47 years ago. In the words of Steve Miller, "Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin into the future." The future is today.
And you wife needs chin LIPO!
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