"...it wasn't long before we got there," said Goldirose. "I didn't want to play with my dad. I wanted to go to the park to play with another little girl."
I was about 4 as I recall. I'm not exactly sure. But time isn't that important. The feeling is. I always felt joy. I was never worried. Never anxious.
Goldirose was in the car, smiling and really excited. She was on the way to her friend's place. She didn't care where she lived or what the place was like or what they'd do. It didn't even cross her mind. Only the car trip did and everything she was seeing.
The funniest thing ever was she asked Glyn: are we near? And he said about 5 minutes.
"Is that a long time or a little bit of a long time?"
And he has never forgotten that question.
Sometimes a parent is fortunate enough to learn Futurizing from a little girl he is so honoured to know and love so so much that it's made his life worthwhile and filled with wonder.
She wasn't seeing much, but she knew she was seeing everything. She was seeing her friend. She was seeing the joy of arriving. She was seeing what they would do. She was seeing people outside the car she'd never seen. She was seeing things and shapes and music she'd never heard dancing and singing in her head, the excitement and taste of sharing with her friend, the mere fact that today and forever wasn't a day she had to play with her dad but with a friend who understands her better, a little girl like herself, seeing how long it was taking, thinking why these short journeys take so long, and she was seeing what time is.
She was seeing life is finite. She was seeing the destination comes sooner than any of us ever want. She was seeing you can live to a hundred or ninety and it's always too short because life has so many wonders we forget to live and love and see and see and treasure.
And she was seeing that moments can seem long, that time is open ended, that possibilities are boundless, that the ocean is as wide and deep as the universe and sky. And she was seeing the shape and colour of time. And joy. And excitement. And how it could never be constrained.
And she was showing that at a certain time it doesn't matter what 5 minutes is, or if it's a long time or a little bit of a long time, because human constraints in language have nothing to do with our feelings, with eternity and with being finite in the kernel of every moment on the earth we share.
She was seeing her friend, her dad, her universe, and she was Futurizing her path in the world and teaching her dad who had long forgotten except how much he loves her. And how much her mom does. And her family. Her friends. Her human family everywhere.
Us. All of us.
Written March 25, 2026 · Glyn Hotz
The dedication of the book Futurizing.
Do not edit. Do not lose.