[from Extended Special Edition ending: thirty years after the events of the film, old Sarah is in a playground, watching parents playing with their children, among them adult John and his little daughter]
Sarah Connor: [speaks into her recorder] August 29, 1997, came and went. Nothing much happened. Michael Jackson turned forty. There was no Judgment Day. People went to work as they always do. Laughed, complained, watched TV, made love. I wanted to run to through the street yelling to grab them all and say, "Every day from this day on is a gift. Use it well." Instead, I got drunk. That was thirty years ago. But the dark future which never came still exists for me. And it always will, like the traces of a dream. John fights the way differently than it was foretold. Here, on the battlefield of the Senate his weapons are common sense and hope.
[John's daughter runs up to Sarah, her shoelace is loose]
Sarah's Granddaughter: Tie me, Grandma. Tie me!
[Sarah ties the loose shoelace. The little girl chuckles]
Sarah Connor: How's that?
Sarah's Granddaughter: Thank you, Grandma.
[they hug and kiss. Then the girl runs back to her father. Sarah watches them fondly]
Sarah Connor: [narrating] The luxury of hope was given to me by the Terminator. Because if a machine can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too.
