Time Traveller: 2017 The Year That Sort Of Was

I’m writing this in January, 2017. You’re reading it sometime after December 2017. It’s my version of a time travel story. Except it’s all true, or might become true. And it’s about me.

I remember reading a short story one time about a time traveller. His world was drowning in pollution and decay. He tells people about his trip to the future. I think it was only 50 years into the future he travelled. Yet, in that time, the world changed. The people had cleaned up the pollution, cleaned the air and saved the world.

The story ends with the time traveller, now an old man attending a celebration. It is now the day on which his past self had visited. The world was just as he’d described it. People eagerly waited for that magical moment when the traveller from the past would arrive and the time traveller would meet his younger self.

The moment came and went, but the time traveller from the past never arrived. Confused the people asked the old man what went wrong.

I lied. I never went to the future.

I cannot find the story now, and I don’t remember who the author was. (Although, it sounds like Arthur C. Clarke, with the twist at the end.)

This is my Time Traveller piece. Here’s how I think the year went, or might have gone.

December 22, 2017

It’s been a good year. Much better than 2016 was. I picked a theme for this year. It was RESOLVE. Not necessarily in terms of New Year’s Resolutions, although there was some of that. Instead I was thinking of resolve in terms of finally resolving some things that have been on my plate for a long time.

Back in April, I finally finished my Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from Western Governors University. I spent a lot of years in school, much of it at BYU studying Computer Science. I’m glad to have it done, and thanks to Amy Stolt, my WGU mentor for her help, and especially my lovely wife for her help and support all these years.

In May we welcomed our fifth grandchild. I love my children and grandchildren. They are both my greatest pride and my greatest heartache, all rolled into one.

I finally had the time and money to get my car, Iron Man, back on the road. Thanks to my neighbor Jonathan Shaw. I couldn’t have done it without him. (And this puppy is finally growing up.)

I spent a lot of time hiking and camping in Utah’s wilderness. I enjoy working with the young 12 adn 13 year old scouts. This year, I was very proud that two of my boys finished the requirements for their Eagle Scout awards. I might have taken them camping, but it was their mother who really got them through this.

Keeping with the RESOLVE theme, I also finally published one of the books I’ve been working on for ages. Self publishing is not as hard as it looks and it looks really hard. Thanks to my friend Howard Tayler for finally showing me how “16 Management Rules that Make No Sense” could become a book. I’m still working on the non-fiction, but this one needed to get done first.

I didn’t get down to Arizona to meet with my friend Steve Hambruch and record my songs, but I did get the music for a few more written out. Maybe next year.

I got to play Star Trek Attack Wing with my brother and my sons. I wrote and published a half dozen scenarios or so.

In November I finished a huge project at work. We moved our phone system to the cloud. It was the biggest project I’ve ever been involved with. It went amazingly well. Now, I have to decide what to do with this new knowledge I’ve gained. There are lots of options. . .all of them good.

Finally, I wrote letters. Actual paper-and-stamp letters. I did that a lot a few years ago and then life got busy. Mostly, I write to my kids. Well, and my friend Brian Christenson, a friend from high school who always writes back.

We’re healthy and happy. My four oldest at home are seniors and looking forward to graduating in June. Life at home will be the same, but then, honestly, it never was.

Happy 2017. Bring on 2018.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. 

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