My thought on this post was to go every 10 years in my life talking about highights. As you will see, I end up getting sidetracked on certain important dates and end up somewhere in time . . . Forgive my ramblings . . . this one is a diary entry in the truest sense of the word!
I was born in 1969. People called it the summer of love. The Beatles had or were about to be broken up and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Ten years later Star Wars has blown away box office records for two years running. It was a lifestyle for 10 year olds like me. I had every “series” of Stars Wars card extant. I can still taste the gum that came in the wax paper wrapping. Jimmy Carter was president around that time and he had problem with hostages in Iran. He tried a rescue and the helicopter crashed and the rescuers died. It was a global humiliation for his Presidency, but I like him still. Ten years after that in 1989 I was 2 years out of high school: “young and red” as the South is wont to say. I used to listen to REM CD’s in a jaded Pizza Hut delivery unit where I started learning Spanish from the cooks and drivers. I was what they call a “Shift Manager.” I made $9.25/hour, worked 40 hours a week and lived with my parents. I started going to church to get a girlfriend and I ended up finding God. I went forward at a Harvest Crusade in 1992. The wife was still on hold. Ten years later in 2002 I’d been a teacher for 3 years and a full Restaurant manager for 2. I made 70k as a Pizza Hut manager and 30 as a teacher. the difference was, as a Pizza Hut manager I never had a day off. I was starting to go looney after the open/close shifts and insane turnover of lazy employees. I decided to throw my hat back in the ring as a teacher . . . I missed being called “Mr. Riley.” I was hired in August of 2002 by a High Desert school district as a 5th grade teacher. I relocated from the san Clemente beach area I grew up in to this small dusty cowboy town where that Roy Rogers museum was on the way to Las Vegas. I met my wife through Yahoo! Personals and now we go to church with our whole family (1 boy, 2 girls).
What will the future hold?
Ten years from 2002 will be 2012. I imagine my computer then will do things we haven’t even imagined yet. I imagine my school will be scoring close to 100% proficient on the California Standards Test. Terrorism will be ameliorated. I’ll be teaching college classes at night to budding new teachers. My wife will be teaching too and our income will benefit!
Ten years from 2012 will be 2022, I’ll be 52. Computers will be controlled by our eyebrows . . . no more keyboards. I’ll be looking back on these days when I was 38 with reverie, seeing myself as “so young then.” I’ll be investing and focused on retirement. I’ll be planning for my kids’ college and having those serious talks with them . . . many as they may or may not be.
Ten years from then will be 2032, I’ll be 62. Retirement will be on my mind often. I’ll probably be criticizing young and green teachers coming through the gate loaded for bear with no experience (like the oldies did with me!) I imagine my health will be moderate since I do have high blood presure now already and possibly some blood sugar issues. Hopefully by then medicine will be even better (it has to be right?)
Ten years from then I’ll be 72, 2042. I hope I’m the hugging tyoe of grandpa that reads stories to his grandkids in a big comfy chair! My eyes and hands may not be able to use the computer anymore. I’m not sure about my eyebrows! If I make it to this point, I am sure computers will do more than is even possible to comprehend right now. I wonder if there’ll still be blogs?
I don’t think my natural life will extend much further than 2045 or so. If it does, I’ll be thanking God every day! Otherwise, I’m gonna use this gift of life I’ve been given to “do my thing.” Thank God I found my thing . . . thank God for these short years on Earth, I know what it is!
Hi. I'm Damien Riley, MA.
