Event Horizon?

My Dad turned 87 last week, my mother-in-law turned 90. While I could only talk to my dad on a video call due to distance, my in-laws held a large celebration.  We went away for the week, staying in a rental up in Yorkshire. It was a fabulous break.

These kind of events always make me think of the past - and I'm not referring to my last post about my dog. I think about when my dad was the same age as I am now. I think about time differences. Forty years ago doesn't feel that far back to me, but when my Dad was my age, forty years before was firmly in the 50s. Even when I was a kid, and he was in his mid-30s, WW2 was only 30 years in the past. A very different time.

Last week, I realised I have known people who were born in three different centuries. As a kid, I knew people who were born in the 1800s.  They say you can't put an old head on young shoulders, but I would love to see some of those people again, and ask questions about their lives. Even my Grandfather, who did tell me stories about his younger life.  I have so many more questions now, that will never be answered.

As I mentioned, 40 years ago doesn't feel that long ago to me. The 80s, a time when I was younger and my friends and I had a lot of fun. And because we don't notice gradual change, we forget how different everything was then.

Change continues, and it's getting faster and faster. Technology is developing faster than we can manage it. The singularity approaches, and we are so close to the event horizon - if we haven't passed it already.  apart from the spaceships and trips to other planets, this is the world I read of as a young reader. And I mean that both positively and negatively, depending on which book I was reading.

But I want the interstellar ships and to see other planets. Bring them on!

Time Travelling Dog

Sometimes, when I’m playing with my dog, I think of the past.

We will be wrestling, something he loves to do. We’ll be rolling on the floor together, with his playful "Grrrrrrs", and I know he's trying to beat me. I usually let him get on top of me and then flip him on his back and rub his tummy - something else he loves. His paws, of course, have no opposable thumbs and so of course, he can’t grip anything. He does what he can, he hold things the only way he knows, and so he grabs my hand or fingers with his mouth. But he is gentle, oh so very gentle. His  jaws never push too hard, never hurt or mark me.

At these times, I often think of his ancestors, the wolves, and how 25,000 years ago, wolves wouldn’t have yet been domesticated. And they certainly wouldn't have been as small as my boy unless it was a pup. And then I think of the time my wife and I were in France. We'd been to visit Grottes préhistoriques de Cougnac, a cave which has paintings on the walls.  These pieces of art are around 30,000 years old.  And they are stunning. Simple line drawings, ochre and charcoal, unknown artists but believed to be Cro-Magnon people. Beautiful beyond words. Moving and emotional.

That night we sat under the stars with a glass of wine, and I remember thinking how some of those who lived in that area at the time, perhaps even one of the artists, might be one of my ancestors.

I thought about how they saw the same forests I did, the same sky, the same stars. It felt positively prehistoric sitting there in the middle of nowhere, and I felt an intense connection with my past, our past.

And so I still have these thoughts and memories whenever I wrestle with my dog. I often also imagine that we are transported back in time to live among them. They are amazed I have a domestic "wolf" pup, and that he plays.  He can sit when I command, and likes to have his tummy rubbed.  And without sharing a language I try to explain that they needn't worry, that they should be kind to him, not hurt him.  I try to show them that when he grabs me with his teeth he isn't hurting me, has no intention to bite. He is a good, good boy. I imagine they wan't to go and kidnap their own wolf puppy, as they have no idea where dogs came from.  But I worry this won't work and there is no way I can explain that to them.

I have no idea when my mind first linked my dog's ancestry to France and Cro-Magnums via time travel.  But it's there in my head and reminds me of its existence frequently.

Maybe I need to pay attention to it and write a story about it.