When I was in grade school, I used to imagine myself in the year 2000.  In my mind’s eye, there I was; gray headed, wearing glasses.  A family.  Grown-up kids. I would, after all, be 32 years old.

In actuality, I wasn’t quite 32 yet and the only kid we had was a 2-year-old. We were also expecting. I had a pretty, young wife who was pregnant with kiddo number two.

There was a lot of hubbub about Y2K. Remember?  Some kids today don’t even know what that’s all about. We considered going to the fuse box and turning the electricity off at midnight, and I’m sure this occurred to many people. Today, that funny story would have to be explained to a large age group, all born after the projected doomsday year of 2000.

And we all lived to tell about it. No catastrophe.  Y2K went away. The new century started as quietly as the old one had ended.

The year 2000 had seemed like such a space-age concept when I was a kid. Indeed, there were all kinds of references to the year 2000 when I was growing up, and it always seemed a lifetime away.  How about you? Do you remember talking about the year 2000 and subconsciously thinking it would never get here?

Heck, I remember being in high school in the 1980s and singing that Prince song. Partying like it was 1999. That would be a big ol’ party.

In actuality, we spent New Year’s Eve at a friend’s house watching movies and eating popcorn, watching over our little kids and having a rather quiet night.  

Now, we’ve been in this new and exciting century for 20 years. I simply can’t believe it. My younger son, born in the year 2000, will turn 20 in a few weeks and that boggles my mind. 

It all went by so fast.

I guess I must have thought that a futuristic year like the year 2000 might kick off some type of new time warp or something.  I mean, I don’t recall ever letting my mind think much past the year 2000. I certainly didn’t think about it being 2020. Retirement, children getting married, growing older, etc. Maybe I had thought that the 2000s would slow things down.

Again, how about you?  How have the last 20 years been for you? Did they fly by as fast as they have for me? Did you think about the time passing or did you just get caught up in the day-to-day activities of day-to-day survival? I think that’s why the time has gone by so quickly; the last 20 years have been our “raising kids” years.  

And the next 20 will be spent on the same thing, as we still have youngsters around. But they will continue to grow. Our youngest will be pushing 30 when we get to the next 20-year mark.

Speaking of kids; that little boy who was almost 2 when the clock struck 2000 will be getting married in 2020. No foolin’.  It’s happening.  We just heard.

So, I suppose the next 20 years will be spent marrying off children, finishing up driver’s training (we have one more to go), retiring, and most likely, eek, grandchildren.

It will be interesting to see what the next 20 years holds, won’t it? Scary, exciting, hopeful, blessed.  All types of “feels” and adjectives will apply.

Our world.  Could it get any crazier? How do you suppose it will change in the next 20 years? How do you suppose it will stay the same?  

See you all in 2040. For now, though, enjoy every day and live life to its fullest.

Party like it’s 2020.