Nostalgic Encounter with an Old Friend

Nostalgia inheres in the mind, not objects. We may associate nostalgic thoughts with things, but objects, themselves, are mere signifiers. They may remind us of a halcyon day, a significant milestone, a face or voice now lost to us.

Cabinets, attics and drawers everywhere are chock-full of those nostalgia-laden items: pressed flowers, wedding programs, old comic books, grandma’s turkey platter, shells plucked from a seashore, ticket stubs from that major date, like this one, circa 1972.

2 stubs with front and back

Elton John! I wonder what became of the girl I went with to that concert, and if she ever thinks of me? Not certain who paid; $4.50 was a lot of money in those days.

One hangs onto gifts, of course, like this one I’ve written about before:

A high school graduation present from Mom and Dad. It’s made the decades-long trek with me, and I treasure it still. Thank you.

A few nostalgic items also have practical uses, like any number of tools I have from my grandfather. They were already on the job when I started working in the family business, and they’re still ready to go, even though they show some wear.

It’s a mistake to get too attached to too many things. Not only does the need to store them become onerous, associating strong emotions with mere physical objects can get out of hand and become a bit obsessive.

Still, I was brought to a standstill this week, browsing through the basement of an antique store. I saw this.

For those of you younger than a certain age, that’s a portable typewriter. It produces printed pages, despite the lack of a screen, hard drive or software. Sort of like a printer, only manually driven. It looks to be in pretty good condition. As it happens, that’s the same model in the identical color of blue as the one on which I typed my first-ever high school research paper (thank you, Mrs. Drake), then took with me to college. I can still hear the hum it made sitting on the desk, the sharp sound of the keys striking the platen, the feel of those keys.

No, I wasn’t in the least tempted to buy it. I don’t need it to spark the endlessly spiraling recollections of composing papers for English classes, writing letters home and to friends (we did that sort of thing back then), and a thousand or ten thousand associated memories. I have those memories, including of that girl at the Elton John concert. As it happens, she’s just down the hall, writing, although not on a typewriter. Lucky me.

How about you? Does any machine or piece of technology have nostalgic value for you? Or not? I welcome your comments. And … what about your first typewriter?

© Brad Nixon 2018