I no longer have parents on earth. One after another, they left and my life goes on without them, though I miss them sorely, especially my dear smiling happy father.
I have a challenging new career in real estate, which I still find curious, frightening and exciting.
I turn to my beautiful children, grandchildren, extended family, my partner, Lenny, and dear friends now and going forward for foundation, for comfort, for support, for fun. Having no siblings, I have always said that I made my family of friends. I have, therefore, many sisters and brothers, but we are not blood relatives. No matter. They have meant as much to me and have loved me perhaps better than siblings could.
But I'm thinking about the future and what it will hold. I'm not morbidly musing on how long I may live, though learning this morning about the death of a friend from college poises me to know that this will start to happen more and more as I get older and older.
No . . . I'm musing about how things will change, evolve, progress. After having a lovely celebratory meal in a lovely restaurant last night, I wonder what the future of good food and fine dining will be. I began to think that someday we may all take a pill once a day that will provide us with all the nourishment our bodies require. Think about all the food accouterments that will become antiques, unneeded - pots, pans, dishes, cutlery, stoves, refrigerators, dining rooms furniture. The list is endless. No need for a kitchen at all. No need for a dining room at all.
Houses will shrink. And as entertainment devices become smaller and smaller and mobile, no need for living space to accommodate screens and comfy chairs. No more barcaloungers.
Our homes simply will be spaces to accommodate our sleeping needs. And who knows how that could change.
Oh! And no need for garages or driveways - only small landing pads to accommodate the landing and take-off of our personal transportation devices.
Old fashioned types or those who remember the "good old days" when families actually sat down to a meal together, or shared family time, will be considered bohemian - or worse - criminals. There will be farms that will be set up to house these rebels and keep them separated from society. As in the film "Fahrenheit 451" where people became living books in a society that banned and burned them, these foodie bohemians will roam the fields of the fooditentiaries talking about menus, recipes, ingredients, and china patterns.
So, in 2015, my mind is moving to what the world might evolve to be. But seriously, my prayer is that the world evolves to be at all. Food is an easy fantasy subject for me, and so my fantasies don't move in the direction of things that are cataclysmic or terrifying. Daily life provides enough of that.
I'd take the food supplements over terrorism, deaths from handguns, and the bitter hatred that seems to grip our country. I'll take the nourishment of knowing that my grandchildren and their children and grandchildren will have a world as lovely as the one I've known, to enjoy in their future.
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| The lovely view from our Pennsylvania retreat |
