Flying Cars and Falling in Love

I was eight years old when Back to the Future II came out in theaters. I remember how anxiously my brother waited to see it after reading the book, how he went on and on about the book being better and key plot holes due to missing scenes from the book during the alternate 1989 sequences. But most of all, I remember thinking I'd never live to be old enough to see the year 2015.

It was "the future" and at the time, I cold barely handle the thought of Prince partying like it was 1999. In my world, 2015 might as well have been a thousand years away. And yet, here it is. In two hours, it will officially be Wednesday, October, 2015.

There are no flying cars, no hoverboards, no re-hydrated and no self-lacing shoes. The kids don't wear their pockets hanging out of their jeans, I can't stuff trash into my gas line to make my car run on rotting leftovers (though that would be cool and hella better for landfills) but on the other hand, we actually do have video chatting, google glass, smart phones, self-driving cars, satellite images of every inch of the planet and y'know that whole internet thing is pretty cool too. literally all the knowledge of the world free at your fingertips. I'm pretty sure that's better than a flying car.

I remember watching the Back to the Future trilogy endlessly with my dad and my brother and wondering what it would be like to travel through time. I'm sure Marty would disagree but if I cold go back to 1955, I'd probably never leave. The idea of meeting a boy for a milkshake and cheeseburger is pretty much the quintessential post-war Americana love story stuff dreams are made of.

And the music! What I wouldn't give to see Buddy Holly perform live, to be able to dance close with a boy as my pink chiffon dress shuffled across the floor and I closed my eyes tightly wondering if ever a day might come when he'd take that big next step and finally kiss me on the lips.

If I could go back in time to 1955 I think my first purchase would be a 45 record single of The Penguins "Earth Angel" and bring it back with me to present time. The single itself is worth far more than I could ever afford to spend on one vinyl issued song but it's such a perfect song of innocent love and romance. I can't explain exactly what it is about that song but it's just perfection.

Maybe in some alternate universe I already live there and life is pure bliss. But for now, I guess I'll just keep spinning the vinyl I have and settle for traveling through time with my eyes closed.