Flashback Friday
As I have been transcribing my journals and getting all in my high school feelings, I decided I wanted to buy something to set the mood for when I’m writing. I already have a “high school nostalgia” playlist that I can listen to, but I wanted something from my teenage bedroom. And that is a blue lava lamp. Back in the 90s I had bought one from Spencer’s in the mall. I didn’t think they would still sell them there 30 years later but indeed they do! So I went yesterday and bought one. The box claims it’s the original lava lamp and I’m sure it is, but it is definitely not the same quality as the one I had when I was in high school. This one is lighter weight and has a fuzzy, velvet texture around the base. In fact, I already broke the light bulb setting it up because it’s so light it fell off the shelf when I was trying to plug it in. I had to order a replacement bulb off Amazon.
This got me thinking about other aspects of my bedroom that made me love it so much. I may have had a hard time with my parents. And I may have had a hard time with the people at school. But my bedroom was my sanctuary and I loved it.
I wish so badly that I had more pictures of my bedroom and more specifically, that I had kept something from back then. I kept the sentimental stuff like my journals and all my photo albums. I have a bandana I got from a leadership summer camp I went to after the 7th grade. But my OG lava lamp? Nope. I don’t even remember what I did with it? Did I give it away? Or throw it away? I just don’t remember. And while I don’t have a landline anymore, I wish I had kept my v-tech phone, like the one here:
I wish I had kept even one of my Seventeen magazines that I had a subscription to. Or a Delia’s catalog or any other artifact from back then. I don’t have any of my earrings or clothes. But I do have a pretty strong memory of life back then. And what my room looked like.
The nostalgia was strong yesterday when I was in Spencer’s. They had packages of glow in the dark stars next to the lava lamps. My bedroom was covered in those stars! Not just on my ceiling, but all over the walls too. It was the perfect vibe when I had my lava lamp on and my black light. The black light did something super powerful to the stars because as soon as I turned off the light, it made the stars glow super brightly. It was pretty cool.
I also had an entire wall of my room that was like a scrapbook. I covered it with things like ticket stubs, postcards, candy wrappers, anything that was significant to me that one might put in a scrapbook. I used a thumbtack to stick it on that wall. Now that is something I wish I had a picture of. I loved that wall.
I had other basic things, like a daybed, a desk, a bookshelf, a computer desk, a dresser, and another piece of furniture that was kind of like a dresser. It had drawers on the bottom and then two doors up top that opened to shelves. I took the shelves out of it though and put my tv in there. I had my tv and vcr and Nintendo hooked up. I had another shelf that was made of wicker and had housed some plants on my grandparent’s patio in Florida. On this I had my phone and answering machine (I had my own phone line) and other knick-knacks like candles and trinket boxes.
I miss that room. But what I love about being an adult is that I can recreate as much of that room as I want. In our newly finished study/creative space, I have those things from my teenage room that I miraculously kept. All my journals, the weird, creepy Elmo I stole from my sister when I was 8. There’s a tv, with a Roku stick instead of a vcr. And there’s a Bluetooth speaker instead of my 3 cd changer stereo with the surround sound speakers. There’s a computer desk too. But it has one large monitor and a stand to hold my laptop. My printer is there too, but it feeds single sheets of paper through, not a ream of paper winding around on gears like my old dot matrix printer. There’s a stand on my desk to hold my cell phone. No blue vtech phone needed. And now, there’s a blue lava lamp.
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