I still think the prologue to Tuck Everlasting is beautiful, and "sunsets smeared with too much color" is one of the best lines in a book ever.
{However, I find the Disney movie adaptation a lot cheesier than I did at twelve when we took a field trip to see it in theaters. And I'm not smitten with the scrawny movie-Jesse anymore, though me and all the girls in my class were at the time.}
At this time of year, more than usual, I want to watch cheesy 90s TV that I grew up with and still love: Full House and Boy Meets World, mainly. I want to watch movies from the 90s because they feel comfortable and familiar and remind me of my childhood. Movies like Matilda and The Little Rascals and romantic comedies that I didn't discover until the past year or so, like You've Got Mail and While You Were Sleeping.
I've been wanting to watch home videos. So I have been, working my way through the dusty stack of VHS tapes in my room and faithfully rewinding each one as I finish (don't you miss that? :). Sometimes they make me feel so young, like I'm still a kid. But sometimes they make me feel old, much older than I am.
Some things are the same way they were in 1994. Same blue carpets in the bedrooms, same red handled, child-sized spoon and fork in the kitchen drawer. I'm still obsessed with Disney- back then, the majority of my clothes and birthday/Christmas gifts featured Belle or Snow White or Jasmine or Ariel or Pocahontas. I still talk fast and loud when I get excited about something.
Thankfully, my high-pitched, three-year-old's screeching has long disappeared (I seriously don't know how my family endured birthday parties). But so has that lovely complete lack of self-consciousness that young kids have...back when you never worried about what others thought of you. Oh, and I tend to avoid attention now instead of seeking it (I think I had a hard time adjusting to having a baby brother :).
I love that home videos remind me of things I was too young to remember or might otherwise forget. Like how my Granny used to laugh when she got really tickled about something. Like the time that she and my aunt took up for me when I, as a toddler, tried to kiss and stick my fingers on the cake we had at a 4th of July party. Or how I got the Belle and Beast figures in my sewing room for Christmas when I was three. Or how there always seemed to be country music playing in the background in our house. Or that my parents took me to Natural Bridge, a place I still love to visit, for the first time when I was just over a year old. And a thousand other little memories.
Until next time,
I love memories like that :) - I think you're right about feeling sentimental this time of year. Especially this year, when I am mostly grown up, and it's like reaching a lookout point and being able to really see the places I've slogged through over the years with a little more perspective.
ReplyDeleteI like that..."mostly grown up." :)
DeleteI feel sentimental during the fall as well. This past summer I bought a favorite childhood book of mine--Just Ella. Everybody asked me why I would spend money on this kid's book, and I just smiled. It's the memories.:)
ReplyDeleteI used to love "Just Ella," too! I still have my copy. :) You should have told them that money spent on good children's books is never wasted. :) Of course, I might be biased, because I buy them all the time!
DeleteAutumn always brings nostalgia on for me. Tuck Everlasting is deliciously divine AND I also used to think Jesse was the hot stuff too, but I don't anymore. ;) And Matilda? That is one of my absolute favorite movies ever! Oh, Kristin, you have me in the mood to watch home VHS tapes and read back through Tuck Everlasting and watch Matilda for the billionth time. Thank you, genuinely! =)
ReplyDelete