So Far from “Back to the Future”

By: Samantha S. Daviss

I happened to run across “Back to the Future” the other day with my kiddos. It was a yucky, rainy day outside so it was the perfect indoor movie day. And having seen this movie as a kid I couldn’t imagine living to see the year 2015, it seemed so far off to me. I thought for some reason I would be an elder lady creeping up on like 100 years old. But instead I am just this “old” lady creeping up on 40!

But it made me laugh and wonder all in the same instant of just how far off we are from that programmed date in the time-traveling Dolorian of October 21, 2015. Can you believe it is just a few short eight months away?

And I have yet to see any flying space boards, or flying Dolorians with sky-high road ways, or miniature pizzas that you throw in the microwave and it expands to a normal pizza size. It’s amazing what our imaginations have us achieving or thinking is “the possible”, when in reality it is of no importance or interest to us, once that time has come and gone. Even though in this day and age we have achieved more than we could have thought possible back in 1985.

There are things not in the movie, that the producers probably couldn’t have even conceived 30 years ago. Like hand-held computers in our phones. Or the fact that tangible music would be a thing of the past (i.e. Walkmans, Discmans, or cassette tapes). Now it’s all downloaded or in “The Cloud” whatever that is (I still don’t understand “the cloud”).

But if you think about it, we really have come a long way in some ways, but taken so many steps back in others. For example, a step back, is the divorce rate is increasing due to social media and travelling for a living, the social skills of our youth are disappearing thanks to social media, phones, and every other gadget available to them.

With the negatives come the positives, thanks to social media we are able to keep in touch with friends and family members around the world; business and pleasure travel have become easier and more financial available; and our discoveries with the environment are making life easier and more environmentally friendly.

So you see change is good, we just have to accept it and move on. We may not always like it, but we just have to go with the flow. Life is way more hectic and complicated than it was in the 80s; things are moving at a faster pace and everyone seems to be pulled in 90 different directions, so sometimes our devices are handy at keeping us connected, but sometimes they interfere with the life we are living in the here and now.

Think back to 1985…forget about all the technological advances you thought would come about thanks to “Back to the Future”, but think about yourself. Whether you were just a kid, a teenager, or starting your young family out…when you would lay outside under the clouds and think about your life and who you wanted to be, did you achieve it 30 years later? Or at least come close to it? Or did your life take a completely different route than you would have ever expected?

I look back and see a little bit of my dreams that came true from 1985, but my life also took some pretty great twists and turns. I got to live abroad for a while, I went to a university that I never would have imagine attending (but it fit me like a glove), I married my childhood golfing buddy, and I have three wonderful boys (says the gal who never wanted children). So you see life has its own plan for you, and sometimes it’s fun to sit down and look back at just how blessed you are to have lived that life and the hills and valleys you encountered along the way.

The year 1985 was a long time ago, but if you think about it, it has gone by in a blink. I can only imagine what October 21, 2045 will bring to us all.