A Little Childhood Nostalgia

Posted by Chris Bovenzi | August 27, 2010

While watching my son and his friends play the other day, I couldn’t help but be taken back by how carefree and buoyant they were. All that mattered was right in front of them, not a care in the world. Not a bad way to live.

It wasn’t too long ago that I was the same way. A quick burst of nostalgia ran through me, and I then realized what my next article would be about. I want to recapture some of the things that mattered most to me as a kid, the same things that I took for granted growing up. Not so much the actual “things” but more the feelings and sentiment I had with them.

Getting a new Nintendo game

There was no better sense of euphoria then being 10 years old and getting a new Nintendo game. Well, at least for me anyway. The feeling of anticipation and excitement was something I’ll never forget, even after all these years. I remember the car rides home after getting the game, and how a 10-15 minute drive always felt like a thousand mile trek. I passed the time by staring at the game box in awe, and then reading the booklet a dozen or so times. The characters of the games were larger then life, and I felt like I was part of their world…

I still play video games, but it’s obviously not the same. Luckily for me, I have a son who shares the same love for video games that his old man once did, and the look on his spoiled face when he gets a new one brings me back.

Christmas Tradition

To say I loved Christmas isn’t all that profound, what kid didn’t? While the memory of almost all the presents is dead and gone, the thing I’ll always take with me is how I mastered the art of the middle of the night present attack. Nobody could sneak a present like I could. Nobody.

There was most certainly an art to doing this, you couldn’t just grab a present and run. Even at a young age I realized I had to almost visualize what was inside the wrapping or I risked blowing my spot. For example, my parents would probably notice a missing Nintendo, but they probably wouldn’t a random action figure.

I still wake up in the middle of the night on Christmas, I don’t sneak a present anymore…but I always think about it. If the tradition was genetically passed down to my son, I hope he knows that I wrote the book on the middle-of-the-night-present-attack, and I’ll be waiting.

Summer Vacation

Is it just me, or did summer vacation used to feel like it was 9 months long? Now it’s just a few months that seemingly get shorter every year.

Obviously being out of school was every kids highlight, but that’s not what I loved it for. There was just something special about it, like time was always standing still. Like I was never going to grow up. Like I had my whole life in front of me.

A typical Summer day looked something like this:

7:00 – 9:00 wake up, eat

9:00- 11:00 get the crew together, AM Nintendo session

11:00-1:00 intense wiffle ball

1:00-2:00 eat, a little Nickelodeon

2:00-4:00 get the crew together, terrorize the neighborhood

4:00-5:00 afternoon Nintendo session

5:00-5:30 eat

5:30-7:00 neighborhood hide-n-seek game

7:00- 8:00 figure out where the sleepover was going to be

8:00-? trade some baseball cards, PM Nintendo session, sleep

Next day do it all over again

I may have left out a few things, but you get the gist of it.

Perhaps my favorite part of being a father is having the opportunity to watch my son do and enjoy some of the same things I once did, and in some ways giving me a chance to relive my youth. Almost like a being a kid mulligan.

My point in all this. There’s things that you’ll do. And then there’s things that you’ll never forget.

Posted under Growing Up | 4 Comments

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4 Comments so far

RJ Licata August 29, 2010 6:40 pm

There is definitely an art to sneaking presents, one that you seem to have mastered. Let’s market your secrets to youngsters everywhere and watch them line up.
Chris Bovenzi August 29, 2010 7:48 pm

I’m all for it. I’ll definitely take those memories with me to the grave.
Jamie August 30, 2010 6:32 pm

Great read. Love this site. Always makes me think of my childhood. Christmas was a big one for me as well. Going to grandmas and opening our terrible sweaters and socks etc etc then driving home from Lafayette and begging the entire way home if we (me and four sisters) could open just ONE present when we got home…its a battle we never won. Our parents NEVER caved. Then came the restless Christmas eve night…When I finally fell asleep I would wake up at around 5am and then the fun started. Wake up the sisters and go downstairs and shake everything forty or fifty times. Our downstairs was something out of a movie. I mean It was me and four sisters, and Mom and Dad so there were literally PILES of presents all over. Christmas brings me to my next nostalgic activity….the WWF hasbro plastic action figures. I was the easiest kid in the world to please and my parents knew exactly how to do it. With a $5.99 wrestling guy. I could be having the worst day of my life, be throwing up sick or on my deathbed and when Mom and or Dad came home with a KB bag I would light up. I’ll never forget (1990 FLU) when they came home a few days before Christmas and hit me off with Macho Man because they felt bad I was sick….and on christmas I would get the belts, the wrestling buddies, rings and of course 10-20 new figures…..Now kids want Iphones and laptops and cell phones…if they dont get them they start getting snotty…its amazing how things have changed…last nostalgic moment for me is a two way playing tie…getting on my Diamondback Mt Bike and hitting the road for the day with the crew getting into all types of shenanigans and my basketball hoop in my driveway…living on a dead end was the best…never had cars to worry about and I logged at least 10,000 hours lifetime on that damn hoop…musta went through 10 rims in 10 years…ahhhhhhh the good old days…cant wait to share all of this stuff with my son…or even daughter…again, great read…my favorite article to date from PPFC…just wish it was a little longer
Chris Bovenzi August 30, 2010 7:13 pm

Thanks Jamie. Definitely miss my childhood, can’t believe how fast it all went. Ferris Bueller was right. Kids today are stupid, they’re all in such a hurry to grow up- -for what? I would give almost anything to be 10 years old again. My son will probably end up hating me for it, but I’m absolutely shoving “my youth” down his throat.

I probably should’ve made the article longer, I could go on forever about things I loved and miss from my childhood. I wanted to narrow it down to my favorite things though. That and I was getting mildly depressed writing it.