10 years ago tomorrow -- July 4th, 1995 -- I was standing in a parking lot outside a mall in Bowling Green, Ohio. I'd graduated from college the month before, and I was holding a girlfriend's hand. Come Fall, I was due to move to Atlanta, to start grad school, and I was looking at the moon (in my memory, it was a full moon, but apparently my memory is wrong.)
I had just watched Apollo 13. A fine film, and probably what prompted me to look at the moon in the first place.
Why do I remember this at all? Because it was one of those rare times in life when I felt completely... present in "the now." I was looking at the Moon, and I was thinking about my life, and wondering where it would take me. And I had the strangest feeling that I was talking to myself 10, 20 or even 50 years in the future. Talking to future-me, telling myself that everything would be just fine.
So every year, on the 4th, I remember that kind reassurance, coming from a nervous kid. And every year, it kinda turns out that the kid knew what he was talking about. It's been alright. It's been a good 10 years.
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