In honor of the third book of the Layna series debuting soon and the endless plague times we find ourselves in, I thought it would be appropriate to explore a topic that touches both: time travel. While I'm not going to spoil the third book by explaining how that concept relates, in terms of the times we're in, I think we are all nostalgic to exist ... elsewhere. I've always been a nostalgic person. (When I was in first grade, I longed for the easy days of preschool.) But now I find myself missing even last year, when I could see multiple friends throughout the week, take myself on leisurely shopping trips, and go out to lunch. In the early days of the pandemic, I found myself longing for malls in the 90s. (It's funny because I didn't actually love shopping in the 90s. I do now.) I watched old footage of malls on YouTube before I went to sleep, and it was weirdly helpful.
Lately, I've been looking through old VHS tapes with the intention of throwing them away. I watched live footage of the OJ Simpson trial on CNN, old local news stories, and countless commercials that as a child drove me nuts. My favorite discovery is when we pressed "record" and left for the day, so the entire tape is just an imprint of what aired. Watching it, I really do feel like I'm time traveling. Jumping from 1993 to 2001 to 2007 and back again, I start to remember the vibe of whatever time I was in, my feelings, what I was doing or what was important to me then. Even when I realize I'm in a year I didn't love, I still can somehow find something to miss about it.
Don't worry--I'm not just sitting around longing for the past. I'm working towards my future--blah blah-- but I find that indulging in time travel with this old footage is a nice break from whatever the hell we're experiencing right now.
If you could jump out of this Covid time and go back to any other time in your life, what do you think you would choose? Ignore the whole "changing the past" concept because that makes this answer too complicated. Just think about when you would go to if you could walk around for a week in the past and what you would do.
Today, I am torn between two periods. Seeing as I peaked when I was ten (half-kidding), 1994 sounds pretty great. I would go shopping with my mom and sisters at the Lansing Mall, stopping at Natural Wonders and the Disney Store, followed by a meal at Olga's. (None of those places are at the Lansing Mall anymore.)
I would also be happy going back to tenth grade and doing normal stuff--go to school and enjoy the company of my friends, then come home to watch The Rosie O'Donnell Show and hang out with my little sister. High School Me would probably find it funny that her thirty-something-year-old-self finds her every day life appealing, but it was nice!
Help me indulge in all of this by telling me when you would go to and what you would do. And then get in the mood to read a new book. (Wink!)
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