2050

Today my tiny granddaughter is flying in a plane.  Is she a good traveler?  Is her crying disturbing all the other passengers?  What a different life she will lead compared to mine.  For the first 30 years of my life the airport was where I went to drop people off or pick people up.  I flew for the first time at age 30.  I was pregnant and hanging on to the strap for dear life in a four seater plane a friend was flying.  He took off from the Anoka airport (long gone now) and flew over the Mississippi River.  He flew us  over our house in Coon Rapids.  I realized that from the air our yard didn't look worse than my neighbor's yard.  That was the moment I stopped participating in the suburban turf envy wars.  Perspective has always been helpful to me.  This pilot friend of ours needed to practice take offs and landings.  So we took off and landed a dozen times.  A passenger can feel the turbulence more in a small plane than a large plane.  Despite that I enjoyed the ride.  My right hand was cramped up due to holding the strap but other than that I was fine. Exhilarated in fact. 

 

So if she flies at 6 weeks and I flew at 30 years of age, what will life be like for her in 2050?  I imagine travel will be a common experience for her.  I would think people will live longer and be healthier.  Maybe New Orleans, Venice, and Florida will be underwater by then. It's possible that the people in Minnesota will be rich if we are cautious with our freshwater supply because there won't be as much fresh water in 2050.  Will we go back to the day of smaller slaughterhouses and smaller creameries?  It's possible that eating locally will be important.  According to Smithstonian.com, there will be fewer people in prisons.  Race will be less of an issue than it is now.  All in all, things sound pretty good in 2050 for my little grand daughter.  It's hard to imagine that far ahead.