It’s midnight on a random Tuesday and like most people, this is the time where my thoughts tend to run away with me. Everything on my mind just crashes into me, like waves breaking against a straining dam. There‘s a lighthouse here though... and for all the stress of life right now, one of the things I keep coming back to are these series of images. They’re not though... just images that is. It’s a feeling; that lighting in a bottle that all millennials seem to chase. That perfect hit of nostalgia. It went a little something like this...
I showed my son Spyro and Crash Bandicoot today. Seems like everything from our childhood is either getting a reboot, remake, or sequel. I don’t hate it, but I’ve found that a lot of them fall flat and end up feeling hollow. Like the bones are there, but the life it breathed into our youth is missing. Don’t get me wrong; FFVII is a blast, and even going back and watching Gargoyles will never bother me. It just wasn’t hitting me the way I thought it would.
Again this was different though. My wife shared her experiences growing up and rescuing Banjo‘s sister from some evil witch. I felt it then, like I felt it this morning. That feeling finally returned... for however long we were sitting there, soaking up those old memories and telling our boys about their aunts and uncles saving us from Dr. Neo Cortex, or naming Yuffie after Aunt Callie, it was there. I realized then that I wasn’t going to feel that high just playing remakes and reboots of these old faded memories. It was about sharing those moments and building new ones with my family.
So I’m telling the Infinity Bros Universe... get back to the basics. Visit those old signposts and faded vignettes of the kid you once were, but take the time to build new ones here and now with the people closest to you. Now is as good a chance as any to challenge your spouse, child, or friend to some Mario Party. Just make sure not to steal their star or this whole “making good memories” thing is over before it starts.
Oh, one more thing! If you’re reading this in the future and The Infinity Bros are being rebooted.. I assume Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have a son and that their family runs the entire world... get that kid to play me!
Jarret Curtis is a proponent, purveyor, and perpetrator of all things nostalgic, and an Infinity Bro to his core