80s Nostalgia To Take A Trip Down Memory Stairs

Eric Lund

May 10, 2022 1:00 PM EDT

As we lope through our boring lives, sometimes we're inclined to give into the sweet, seductive allure of nostalgia. And just like other people's children, you can look at nostalgia that means something to someone else and feel absolutely nothing for it. Meanwhile the cheap plastic crap that you remember from your own childhood is elevated in your mind to a status of godhood. "They don't make popsicles the way they used to," you might say to yourself, half acknowledging that the ones you ate as a kid were inferior in every way. "I liked them better when there was a little bit of lead in them," you think. "It made us strong." It didn't, but it may have given you brain damage, so it's not surprising that you think that.

But still, we like to be reminded of a simpler time. Maybe because it gives us a sense of control. "I didn't have anything to worry about when I was playing with glow in the dark dinosaurs," you think, forgetting that you spent a lot of that time terrified that your stuffed animals would come to life and attack you, or that you would get sucked down the drain of the tub. Maybe we need to forget more. Where's that lead popsicle.