An interesting thought crossed my mind some years ago that if a distant civilization, at this very time (today, right now), say, 75 million light years away, had a telescope capable of resolving Earth's surface features, and its inhabitants, they would actually be seeing dinosaurs running around. Because it would take that long for the 75 million year-old image to have reached them. Another one, say ~4.5 billion light years distant, Earth's formation.
It is true, from every point in the universe, all one can see is the past. Since only the past is visible and we are relying on radio waves to make first contact, one could only connect with the past.
Yes, interesting thoughts.