"The term nostalgia describes a sentimental longing for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations."Or, you could say, it is Yearning for the past.
As we age, we find ourselves slipping into nostalgia more and more. I recently, in writing another post for this challenge, thought about encyclopedias. Some years ago, I was part of a conversation that turned to encyclopedias. Remember encyclopedias?
Door to door salesmen (in those days, mainly "men") and supermarkets sold them. Now, you can't even give them away, even to a library book sale. Our local library will not accept them as sales donations.
As a 20-something participant in the conversation listened in amazement, the others in the conversations (mostly people in their 50's) talked about parents scrimping and saving so we could have a set in our homes. By the time they were paid off, (even before that!) they were obsolete. Then, our parents would have to buy yearbook supplements so they would be up to date. Until the next year. And then they would have to buy another yearbook.
The 20-something mused "And now we have the Internet."
It isn't just encyclopedias that are items of nostalgia now. Nostalgia includes steel soda cans that had to be opened using church keys (those keys, not to be confused with keys to houses of worship, still exist, but the steel beverage cans don't - at least, here in the United States), candy or bubble gum cigarettes, glasses whose lenses were glass (thank heavens we have moved past those), telephone party lines, rotary phones, S&H Green Stamps, and other items of my childhood. I'm sure, depending on when and where you grew up, you can name totally different items.
As we grow older, these exist only in our memories, in a haze of nostalgia and yearning for the past.
Speaking of yearning, I want to treat you to some spring flower pictures from my yard These flowers bloom for only a few days, and then we will have only our memories until they return next year.
Barrenwort.
Traveling through Time and Space with the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Come back tomorrow, for Zee End!
Thank you for a lovely post that did stir feelings of nostalgia in me. I grew up in Rhodesia (before it became Zimbabwe) and then moved to South Africa, but yes we had all those same things plus a few more. And your incredible photographs of daffodils created a real yearning in my heart. These don't grow in our S.African gardens. What incredible beauty. https://shirleycorder.com/republish_old_posts/ (Yay for Yesterday!)
ReplyDeleteShirley, thank you so much for sharing this part of your life with me. We are in peak tulips and daffodils right now here in upstate New York. I'll be sure to publish some pictures tomorrow and early next week, in case you wish to return to see them.
DeleteHello! Have you been getting my comments? Most of your posts resonate with me especially this one as I too am now on the other side of life where nostalgia is a stronger pull than the unknown future
ReplyDeleteBellybytes, I checked my comments. Besides this and a comment 4/22/17, I have no comments from you this month, so...oh my. I have trouble sometimes commenting on other Blogger blogs, and I don't know why it is. Please know I appreciate your readership and thank you for letting me know.
DeleteOf all the things you mentioned, the only one I don't remember is telephone party lines. But phone numbers began with letters. I think mine was IV5- or something like that.
ReplyDeleteI remember my old childhood phone number from the Bronx, Songbird. It began with OL5 - standing for Olinville, the neighborhood I lived in.(There was also an OL8). Imagine that- now, you can't even trust area codes in phone numbers.
DeleteBrought back so many memories of time spent in my grandfather's study, perusing encyclopedias. Somehow Wiki doesn't have half the charm, does it?
ReplyDeleteThese flowers look lovely... I don't know if we have these tulips here in Kerala... I know we get the seeds of many a rare variety of flower nowadays but still havent seen a tulip like this.
ReplyDeleteYayha Hashemi & Ala Amiry are True Heroes of Kindness
So true!! I find myself talking about the 'good ol' days' and I stop and remember yawning when my parents did the same, years ago!
ReplyDeleteI have a 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica printed on the thinnest of paper and with beautiful parchment maps. One day I will pass it on to my son. When I tell my kids about some of the things we had to do when we were young, like get up and change a channel on the tv, they seem to wonder how we managed.
ReplyDeleteI have a few encyclopedia sets. I even have a digital version but sadly all outdated now. Who knows what will happen in 20 or 30 years time. Perhaps the internet as we know it will be a thing of the past. On another nature note - beautiful daffodils.
ReplyDeleteSuzy at Someday Somewhere
I love how at the beginning of each school year, there's some professor someplace who makes a list of things his incoming freshmen have never seen. (18-year-olds.) Every year that list amazes me.
ReplyDelete