01/01/2026
It is 23°, in Benton Tennessee, on this last day of 2025. Our forecast, for the day, is plenty of sun and 49°. It is hard to believe, in many ways, that we are on the very brink of 2026. A quarter of the 21st century is gone. It seems like just a very few years ago that we were concerned about computer systems collapsing because of entering the 2000’s. Time has always marched on. Although I remember when it marched at a reasonable pace. I remember when there seemed to be 24 hrs. in a day and 7 days in every week. The school year seemed like it would never end; summer vacation was made up of long days with enough time to do all the things we enjoyed. So much time that we played all the games we knew .. then made up games to fill the voids. From one Christmas, to the next, was an entire long year. And, birthdays took forever to come around again. In the 70’s we wondered, in awe, what the 80’s might bring. ‘Well to do’ kids carried calculators to school. My brother, after graduating business college, had a job in the data processing deparment of a large paper making company. The computer system he worked with filled an entire wall of the office he worked in. We were amazed by a new game ‘Pong’ that could be hooked up to the television and played on the screen. We watched Star Trek, and The Jetsons, entertained by the impossibilities someone had dreamed up … knowing their imaginations were working overtime. We heard rumors of electric cars, telephones that wouldn’t need a cord, explorations to the deepest ocean trench and to the far reaches of space. I knew all of that was far fetched every time I tried to untangle the curly, long, telephone cord. In 1975, my college Chemistry professor took up an entire class talking about, and demonstrating, the new ‘dial up’ computer technology the college was beginning to use. 1975 on one hand seems like a few years ago … while at the same time feeling like a lifetime ago. It has been 50 years of a whirlwind of innovations, and technological advances, that have been hard to keep up with. I don’t even know how to use all the ‘conveniences’, apps, and ‘gadgets’ on my phone. That is a bit mind blowing for a girl who remembers picking up the receiver and hearing the operator say “number please”. I think all of ‘Star Trek’ has been fulfilled except the ‘Beam me up Scotty’ part… and I’m reasonably sure that is being worked on by a group of people somewhere. We are catching up with the Jetsons by the hour. We’ve already seen prototypes of flying cars. That’s pretty astounding considering, as a kid, my parents would go outside and marvel at an airplane flying overhead; and a helicopter was totally awe inspiring. I remember when the instamatic camera was top notch technology! Now we have AI that can be used to project a person’s image, and voice, without the person’s knowledge or permission. When I was growing up the worse thing we had to worry about was someone stealing our personal journal or our diary. Now folks are stealing other people’s identity. At any rate time will keep moving on. As I said, when I was a kid it marched at a steady, reasonable, pace. The pace had increased until it seems to be jet propelled. I hope, as individuals, we can slow our pace enough to smell the roses, spend time with family and friends, share some smiles, appreciate the little things and the precious moments. Those precious moments make precious memories … which everyone needs as time goes by. Good morning y’all. It is time to rise and shine. It is a good day to have a good day. A good day to prepare for a wonderful new year.
