Imagine....

On our vacation travels this summer, my kids and I discovered this really interesting Starbucks. Looking for some way to cool off from the unseasonably hot temperatures of Pennsylvania, (of course it wasn't too bad since we're from Phoenix but for the locals....) we wandered into the store. Okay, so nothing unusual there. What made me stand up and take notice was the place was built in 1758. That's right. It's older than our country. We just had to take a look inside.

As we sat at our table admiring the fireplaces, the floor, and just about every other detail, my writer's mind started percolating. I thought about the similarities between the centuries. William Doyle (the founder of Doylestown) built it as a tavern back in 1758. In 2013 we were sitting enjoying another kind of beverage. Of course, the clothing, the speech patterns, and topics of discussion, were different, but the tavern was built as a gathering place for locals and travelers alike.

Imagine the what it was like back then. What did the people see when they looked out the same window we did? What did they hear? What did they think about? Did William Doyle ever think his building would still be standing and remain a gathering place?

Now imagine 250 years from now. Hard, isn't it? Especially when I have trouble keeping dates straight on the calendar, but still.....What does the future hold?

As a writer, I can control the outcome and future in my books. But as people, we play a key in controlling what we do to our planet for our future generations. I don't know about you, but in 2263, I think it would be really neat for another writer to sit inside the old tavern, staring at the hovercrafts driving by, thinking about the past and the future as they create their next story.