WingCommander: "It's really hard to convey to anyone not alive during that time just how it was constantly drummed into our heads that we'd never get old, never even get to high school (much less graduate from it) and walk into the New Order waaaaaay before the year 2000 even."
So true! I was there; I know. I graduated almost two decades before you and prominent JWs in my area told my nonJW dad that I would never get a driver's license or graduate from high school in "this system."
Around the year 1990, I knew of a guy who was going to try to make money on the Olympics that were to be held in Atlanta in 1996 by selling T-shirts. A JW friend and I laughed at that because "this system" was to be gone by then. A few years ago, I had been sent to Florida to work for a few days. As I was driving North on I-95 from Florida to pass through Georgia, I saw a "Welcome to Georgia" sign right at the Fla/Ga border. In big letters on the sign was "Home of the 1996 Olympics." That was 2016 or later, so it was close to 30 years after we laughed at the thought of the Olympics' occurring in 1996, and it was at least (probably more than) 20 years since the Olympics occurred in Atlanta.
Seeing that sign hit me hard and reminded me of the JW mindset back in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's.