Everything old is new again

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SQUIRRELING ALONG

I’m still a fairly young squirrel… I don’t quite qualify as middle aged, even. Give young kids about 20 minutes to ask me questions, though, and I quickly felt as if I should be reaching for my cane and orthotics. Curiosity is rather sweet, in my opinion, but the phrase, “back in your day,” made my bones feel heavier with every word.

Luckily, I dug up some grace and leaned into sharing old stories instead of having a pity party about my increasing age. Just as lucky for me, we confirmed that middle-aged is over 40, and I’ve still got some time before that!

The terms “antique”, “vintage”, and “retro” are probably the most common that we hear in reference to “old stuff”. To be an antique an item could possibly be referred to as a relic or artifact, but the item must be at least 100 years old or more. (Which also confirms that my childhood toys are nowhere near old enough to qualify yet).

My pile of palm-sized playsets that were popular for young girls in the 1990s is still safe!

For something to qualify as “vintage”, it is generally agreed upon that it should be an item from a bygone era or something that tends to invoke nostalgia. It is something that is obviously from a different point in time.

Unfortunately, these terms don’t have specific definitions in an industry and can be used maliciously by people trying to offload their old or outdated belongings, as well. “Retro” is used multiple ways and may not even be referring to something that is old at all, but something new that is designed to remind you of something vintage or antique.

At the end of the day, we all agreed that no matter how new or how old, toys can be entertaining. We are all excited to get an opportunity to check out Grandpa’s race car set from when he was a kid, but we can’t seem to agree on whether it will still work. My 1990s playsets with no batteries, lights, or noise work just as well as they did 30 years ago.

Some things stand the test of time and appear as if they could’ve been produced yesterday instead of 110 years ago, and some other things don’t last at all.

As long as we continue sharing stories from “back in our day” with the next generation, there should always be someone coming up next to still appreciate it.