Lately I’ve been having these little flashes in my mind’s eye, sometimes only a second or two long, sometimes lasting for minutes at a time. They seem so real they feel more like memory than prognostication...sense memories to events that have not yet occurred. They carry the authority of prophecy, as powerful as Shamans' visions

They're not mere daydreams, not just wishful-thinking (though there is plenty of that), but also mundane moments - seeing him across the table at dinner when he is 11 or 12 sitting in profile, listening to someone across the table from him, smiling and laughing, he doesn't know I'm watching him.

He's 2 or 3 and he's looking around curiously as I'm strapping him into his stroller.

He's 25, his eyes open wide, his mouth agape, arms thrust above his head in thrilled surprise as the Bears kick a game-winning field goal.

And somewhere a man is envisioning his soon-to-be-born son kicking that same field goal. Jack, of course, is resting during the off season, waiting to rejoin the Cubs for spring training and the start of the 2031 baseball season.