Nostalgia

*Pictured: My youngest sister Jacqui Gold portraying Alice from 'Alice in Wonderland.' Wearing the Pink Lady Brooch. Photo Credit: Jen Gold. You can find her on Facebook: Jen Gold Photography.

The boss man forwarded me a chain letter today. Usually when I receive such a 'gift' in my inbox, I make my vehement detest known: "Go get a wife or something!" At 60 years old, thrice engaged but never married, and with an ex-girlfriend list that puts many eternal bachelors' to shame, the chances of this are slim to none. Still, I remain hopeful.
Today's chain letter was different, though. It didn't annoy me. In fact, it made me shed a little tear. The subject line read: "nostalgia" and the body of the email contained pictures associated with memories of someone's childhood in the 40's and 50's. It looked so peaceful and uncomplicated; so happy and carefree. I found myself wandering back in time to my own childhood, which I recall being quite similar to the images from the 50's.

The 80's and 90's were a great time to be a kid. Without the internet clogging up our lives and destroying our creativity, my generation was able to enjoy full use of our imaginations. Sure, we had Nintendo and computer games, but it was so much different. I mean, Oregon Trail? Talk about simple one-dimensional graphics. But man, it was the coolest game in 2nd grade! In my house, we were not allowed to play video games. Only educational computer games and even those were limited to a certain amount of time per day. TV was always considered a privilege, not a right. Most of the time, my sisters and I played in the neighborhood with our friends. We rode bikes, played dress up, scraped our knees, and decorated (read: ruined) our clothes with grass stains. My parents encouraged reading over all other activities. My sisters and I read voraciously, and enjoyed every moment of it. Most nights, we fell asleep with books on our faces. I played roller hockey for hours every day with the boys on our street-- I was a bit of a tomboy in those days, and they accepted me as one of them. I suppose I’ve always been an "Honorary (Something)."

We made popsicles from juice, homemade ice cream, and built forts in our backyard. I played Barbies with friends or my sisters until I was 12.

In short, we made do with every resource made available to us, and as a result, we experienced something I fear kids’ today miss out on...the beauty of human interaction and building of good communication skills.
I see the connection to this simple time slipping away from my generation and it makes me a little sad. We are so consumed by the digital age that something as simple as verbal communication has fallen by the waste-side. It occurred to me just the other day that I had gone nearly the whole day without interacting with a single human being with the exception of text, email and Social Media. I didn't actually open my mouth to speak until late afternoon. This reality blew my mind.

I love talking. I could talk and talk and talk and never shut up ever if it wasn't socially weird and annoying. I can be a bit compulsive about it. My mind is in constant motion, and I fear, if I didn't let all the words out, I might internally combust. This obsessive need for discourse does not fare well in an age when it is common for thoughts to be expressed in 160 characters or less.
Ok, so I was the girl in English class who repeatedly had her paper returned with "please condense. I asked for 5 pages, not a novel." It was hard for me to only write 5 pages back then, so how the hell am I supposed to cut back to 5 words now?!

Yes, the modern age gives me much anxiety. I would prefer a world where people say what is on their mind rather than invent an acronym for it; where families talk at the dinner table; where people are about action, not about words summed up in 160 characters or less.

This is what I remember from childhood. This is my version of utopia. This is nostalgia.

So, I am forced to accept the world as it is today. It’s fine. Really, it’s cool. We’ve gone to great lengths to create a more simplified life for ourselves, and, like most people, I enjoy the perks of the Pandora’s Box that is the internet and the instant gratification of reaching anyone anywhere anytime and using a myriad of technological platforms. It’s pretty damn lovely. But I still prefer talking to a representative over an automated phone service.