A Glance Into the Future

 In the summer of 2001 I stayed overnight at my best friend's house, and the next morning we took a drive down to Rockford to visit her aunt Kay for a few hours. While my friend's mother stayed out on the porch, sipping ice tea and chatting with her sister and her brother-in-law, my friend and I wandered down into the basement, which was fully furnished with a big-screen TV and a large beige couch with strangely patterened cushions which gave me the strongest case of dejavu I've ever had. There were also large plastic bins lined up against the wall, all completely filled to the top with Beanie Babies. Kay was a collector.

 While in the basement, my friend put in a CD of NOW hits that were current at the time, and we danced around the basemen, singing all the songs we knew the words to. The CD was on repeat, so this went on for more than an hour. The time came for us to leave, and we went upstairs. Kay asked us what we'd been doing downstairs, and we told her. Then she started talking about this new artist that was just coming out, "Something with the word Keys" she said. I hadn't heard the song "Fallin'" yet, so I had no idea who she was talking about, but after talking some more, she said, "they say she's going to be really big." 

 And lo! She was suddenly everywhere, and she actually has become one of my favorite new artists.