Tuesday 4, A Visit From the Future

I'm participating in the Tuesday 4 which this week has you examine yourself from the prospective of someone from the future. I've have done similar exercises to this in the past and always found them difficult. To me, everything around me seems normal, of course, so nothing seems special or worth mentioning. But each of us lives in a situation that is unique to us and has our stamp on it one way or another. So much more to say about this, but before I get too far into my thoughts, I will try to stop overthinking things and just answer. Here it goes. Play along if you'd like.

1.  Let's pretend that it is 50 years into the future, and explorers have just discovered your house, "frozen in time" exactly as it is today. Everything is preserved, even the food, but of course no one has lived there for fifty years.  What do you think would be their first reaction as they walk in the door of your house? I think they’d want to know why everything has a wire attached to it and why we have so much paper around. I don’t know where technology is going in the future, but if present trends continue, we will be in a wireless, paperless world.   2.  What would the things left in your house tell the explorers about you? First, I think they would see evidence of pets with our shredded furniture, fur balls, scratching posts, and cat food that abound. They would also see that we hold onto things if they still work even if they aren’t that attractive. That along with the primitive technology that they see, even for 50 years ago, would suggest that we do not part with our money easily.   3.  What kinds of books would they discover on your bookshelves or beside your chair/bed? They would discover many classic science fiction books since my husband still has the ones he got in high school and college. They would also find several “how to” books particularly in woodworking and gardening. Added to that would be some children’s classics, as well as popular fiction and nonfiction books-meaning books I read and liked that I found at used book sales.   4.  What things would they discover in your closets or cabinets that would make them wonder why on earth you were saving it? When we moved four years ago, we got rid of many things, so nothing really ridiculous comes to mind right now. However, they might wonder why we have so many empty coffee cans and empty cat food boxes. If I could talk to them, I would say that I’m saving the coffee cans for a children’s craft program at the library if we ever get to do programs in person again, and those cat food boxes are very sturdy and handy to use in many situations.