What if the Future Comes?
Today my first children’s book is being published.
Five-year-old Rosie often wonders about the thing called “future.” The word gets thrown around a lot. At home or in school, while playing or learning, she hears the word here and there. It seems to be present everywhere.
As often as she hears it, or perhaps because she hears it all too often, Rosie imagines all sorts of things it could mean. Can you blame her?
One day, it is described as a sneaky surprise, and the next, a promise of unbelievable things. Thanks to her curious mind and the help of Mom and Dad, she creatively pieces together the puzzle called future.
Are you ready to meet the future with Rosie?
November 29, 2023, is one of those “future days” that has finally arrived. Today, I become a published author. While getting published is an obvious goal for anyone who writes for a living, writing a book, let alone a children’s book, came as a surprise even to me.
One morning, I was invited to my children’s school to read to a class of 3rd graders (something I had done several times before), and shortly after that, the story was written. Quite frankly, the story unfolded with incredible ease and flow. I was writing seemingly out of a direct personal experience. The narrative unfolded like a love letter to my own kids and little learners I have met over the years.
That was over five years ago. Back then, I didn’t think my little book would have any future.
Until that future came today.
Funny how the future works. It does not come all glammed up in sophisticated garb, attended by fireworks and suspenseful music as it seemingly feels on those sci-fi movies. Its drama does not drop in one big bang of it all. It creeps and sneaks into reality EVERY DAY.
Yes, I did go through the process of writing, safekeeping my idea, and living so many days of hesitation to put it out there. Eventually, I dove into the long and tedious publishing process – another surprise. But I’m glad I did not lose steam. I’ve always believed the story holds a promise of teachable moments for kids, and tidbits of meaningful ideas to consider, no matter what age.
For young minds, the idea of future is a complex mix of concrete things and intangible possibilities. In other words, kids often think of it in vague concepts. They can’t quite sink their hands into it. It’s not easy fitting it to a peg. And yet in today’s world, we are molding them to be future-focused, whatever that means.
But what does the future really mean for how we live every day? I tried to scale the complexity of our perceptions of the future by framing the perspective in the lenses of a child.
I recall, as a kid growing up, being somewhat made to believe that the future is this fraction of time that seems to always be way ahead of the curve, never in sight. Perhaps that’s why adults tend to never think of the next day as the future. It seems too close to be that.
What separates us from our future anyway? A sunrise? A few hours of sleep (or none!)? We are walking into the future daily, yet we don’t call it what it is. We don’t recognize it. Somehow, we always expect it to look different. Perhaps we choose to see it from afar, so we regularly distance ourselves from it. I can understand how keeping the future at arm’s length gives us a comfortable enough space to put off those giant goals, complex challenges, and peak-high plans.
But why can’t we just say the future is here?
I would say it! Because this future that has me transformed into a children’s book author has come.
One future day, I will share more about the story behind the story.
Soonest.
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