No vision

R and I constantly remind one another that we have absolutely no vision. I don't mean ocular, I mean Future. Trends. Possibilities.

I was thinking about how I was so young when I got married 30 years ago today. And now I sit at my dining room table, typing on a laptop computer that is hooked up to what? The Internet? Where's the damn cord? And I thought I'd make a list of things I couldn't imagine then:

1. We really couldn't imagine the kids we ended up with. We figured we'd have kids, but that concept is always so fuzzy that we never thought about what they would be like. I'm still kind of surprised.
2. We were so blown away with the concept of VCR's when they came out that it seems quaint to mention them. But seriously, a machine that can tape a TV program when the TV is OFF?!! It still boggles. Yes, I'm familiar with Tivo and DVR's and stuff that is already way beyond a VCR, but that original concept is still the one that we can't comprehend. Growing up, when you wanted to watch a movie you went to the theater or hoped it was going to be on one of the three networks that were available. Period.
3. CD's and subsequently DVD's. I've got a stack of CD's playing now in shuffle mode although I still like to have a theme going. These are all Windam Hill's Winter's Solstice (I through V). Mustn't mix musical genres. I had an 8-track player for heaven's sake, but must admit I only owned one actual tape. I had--and still have--a ton of albums, but there is no shuffling, the play time is short (unless you flip it over), and they're inconvenient to store (but the skips, pops, and hisses take me back). Again, I know about i-Pods and what not, but we're looking at the paradigm shift here.
4. Owning a KitchenAid mixer. I knew about them, sort of, but they were either too commerical-grade or high dollar. I love mine. Favorite appliance.
5. Of course, the laptop. I had received a very brief introduction to computers right around the time I got married. I remember it was like a field trip that we took at the office and all of the secretaries (I was one then) decided we'd never have anything that new to work with (it cost like $8000) so why were we there. We actually had a mag-card typewriter in our office. Look that up if you want to see old school! And a spirit-master duplicating machine! The computers were probably some of the very earliest commercial adaptations for small businesses. I want to say they were 8086's but can't remember if that is right or not. They had probably way less than 100 kb of memory on the hard drive. Enough for about one good email now. But I had no idea about memory, ram, processors, and knew I'd never have to use one of those because I was going to stay home and raise my babies. And now I manage a small network at work and type at my dining room table, blogging to the 10's of people that stumble onto this space.
6. Had no idea the gray hair was coming, but it did. R lost his hair too. And man, he was known for his head of hair, so that was really unforseen. Well, his dad was bald so I shouldn't have been surprised, but it really is hard to picture when you're 20.
7. Cell phones? Forget about it. There used to be infrequent references to car phones in the movies, and they were always connected with a cord to some magical box in a limousine. Then when cordless phones came out, that intrigued me. I can actually walk more than 10 feet away from the phone base? Awesome! But cellular phones? That's crazy talk. FYI, I just replaced the last DIAL phone in the house, an old black, wall-mounted number, with a simple wall phone that's not even cordless. It's in the basement, so I didn't want to have to plug in a charger. And the only reason I replaced the dial phone is because it fell off the wall one day when the DSL splitter it was hooked up to split open (irony!) and I couldn't repair it and didn't want to spring for a new one from AT&T (the Best Buy replacement I got wouldn't hold my wall phone). But I still have the old black phone with the time and temperature sticker on it and our phone number printed in the center of the dial, and my middle son who loves all things unencumbered by technology has asked that I keep it for him. And I will.
8. Digital anything. Cameras, movies, cell phone photos, clocks, and lots more stuff too numerous for me to remember with so little caffeine in my system and an extra-sweet snickerdoodle working in my concentration skills.
9. My degree. I never thought about getting one until I realized I wanted my kids to have one and I needed a plan to make that happen. Plus set an example. Plus I wanted a way to support my family if anything happened to R.
10. My life. What a pleasant surprise! I never thought about where I was going to end up and I still don't have a real clear idea. But I can't complain and I'm looking forward with excitement, backwards with gratitude.
11. Google, or anything like it. I love it, use it, and still don't really know how to use it to it's fullest. I watched my daughter search "Images" on it the other day and for the life of me couldn't figure out how I'd missed that little feature. I guess I need to spend some time with it and get to know it better. But I've only had DSL for about a year, so I'm relatively new to surfing.
12. My house. It's charming and old and has a lot of flaws and tons of things that need fixing. It actually is where I hoped I would end up but never really thought I would. I love it most every day (until I see the rot on the window sills -- mustn't look outside). Personality-wise, it fits me perfectly.
13. Video games. I remember thinking Atari's Pong was amazing and there was no way it could be topped. Over the T-giving weekend, R and I competed in a Guitar Hero match, using my son's equipment. Granted, we were set on the easy level and the song had to be one we knew, but we managed and had fun I really don't like video games, but that one was really fun.
14. Reading. I have started down a path of reading that I REALLY didn't anticipate. I've been into American history lately and am currently reading "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick (I swear that name sounds like he was on board). I've always read, but never in this direction. And I really like it. I also like really well-done fiction and biographies. Who knew? I used to read solely for entertainment and then when I was in school, solely for education. I guess I've kind of mixed the two.
15. Debit cards. Still can't wrap my head around the convenience factor. I like the forced admission of spending that writing a check involves. It makes me think twice about what I'm buying.
16. Grandkids. Who at age 20 imagines them? And so perfect little ones as I've got? And how much joy they bring you? No one, that's who.
17. Fun. There has been a lot of fun in the past 30 years. You hope there will be fun, and sometimes you even plan for it, but the truth is that most of the real fun happens accidentally.
18. Friends. Most, if not all of my good, dear friends came to me after I was married. I was probably too focused on R when we married to cultivate friendships with women, so that happened later. Even so, most of my dear friends have been in my life for 20 to 25 years. And every once in a while, I'm lucky enough to add a new one. I think that's important, but I didn't realize that at the time I was married.
19. Central air. I'm not sure I was ever inside a house with central air conditioning until after I was married, and I know I loved it when I first experienced it. It's not that new of a concept, but it was new to me. Now we've got it and wouldn't trade it. And a forced-air furnace beats a gravity furnace most any day.
20. Power locks and windows on my car. Love 'em, won't ever be without 'em. Also am extremely fond of the keyless entry and trunk operation. Would prefer a 10-year old car with the features I want to a brand new, stripped down model of anything.

Okay, that's it for now. I know there are tons to add to this list, but this will get you into my mindset. It's official...I'm ancient.