Nostaglia essay

I am not certain if this qualifies as an object, but something that holds a great deal of meaning to me is my tattoo. It is inked behind my ear and is an outline of the beloved Disney character, Mickey Mouse. The outline is simple and black, but I cherish it dearly. Mickey Mouse is the symbol of Disney, but more importantly, it holds a lot of good memories of my past as well as parts of my present and hopefully, the future.
I grew up on Southern California less than an hour’s drive from Disneyland in Anaheim. When I was little, I would make at least one trip a year to the theme park. As I grew older, my visits to Disneyland became more frequent and increased to approximately once or twice a month. I grew up watching and experiencing Disney and Disneyland. Some of my favorite movies are Disney movies. I remember watching The Lion King so much that the film of the VHS started to warp and the pictures began to become distorted. Even now, at college, my friends and I watch Disney movies all the time.
I love everything about Disneyland. I love the noises and the sights and the smells and the people. My family has a little tradition whenever we go to Disneyland. During the fireworks show, which is absolutely amazing to watch, a couple of us will leave early to save seats near the river surrounding Tom Sawyer Island while the rest go to a restaurant in New Orleans Square to buy hot chocolate for the group. We meet up and watch the show, Fantasmic together. I have been doing this since I was a child. Every time I watch it I get such a pang of nostalgia that I simply cannot contain myself. We all sit, huddled in a group with mist sprayed lightly on our faces as scenes from famous Disney movies are displayed on the water, with characters from my favorite Disney movies dancing on their boats, and with Mickey beating the evil Malificent. The thing that really gets me, though, is the music. When I hear the Fantasmic score, tears begin to form in my eyes. For some reason it holds such power over me. My heart races and I cannot help the smile that has formed from ear to ear. Every time I watch it I am both awe-stricken and heart-warmed because I am with the people I love.
I grew up in a family that placed a lot of value in being together. All of my cousins lived within driving distance from me, with the farthest being in San Diego. We were together for pretty much everything. We would spend every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s together. We would even spend whole summers between each others’ houses. We all did stupid things together and got in trouble together. The way that we were raised was to love each other and stick by our family no matter the circumstance. I know of so many families that are broken with fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins who are all estranged from each other. It saddens me, but makes me grateful to know that I will always have people who will stand by me in my life. We place a lot in making sure that we spend time with each other.
Furthermore, I hope that all children in the generations to come could be like this, with a smile on their face and a happy-go-lucky attitude and an innocence that lasts forever. Unfortunately, I am not sure if that is where our culture is taking our youth. It seems as if there is a large disconnect between the generations as far as values and how we are being raised. With the technological advances of today, children are more concerned with their computers, ipods, phones, and video game consoles than they are with pretty much anything else. I never answer or look at my phone during dinner because I was raised thinking that meal time was family time. Why would I need to text someone if I can have a face to face conversation with the people sitting all around me? This is not the case with the youth of today and, I fear, the youth of the future. Every time I look around me when I eat, almost everyone has their phones on the table, more concerned with everything else going on in the world than with the people in front of them. I feel like this is the direction that kids are going in today. There is less of an emphasis on being together as a family and loved ones, and more of an emphasis on what new tech gadget is out.
My tattoo makes me very nostalgic. Every time I look at it I am reminded of my childhood as well as who I am now. I think about all the good things that have come out of spending time with my family in Disneyland and how I grew up. It also reminds me that I will never grow up, not really. I will always hold this childish love of Disney and just being a kid with me forever. I hope to raise my children in the way I was raised in hopes that they will turn out like me, or even, a better version of me. I want to be able to take them to Disneyland and let them watch all of the classics. I want them to spend time with their cousins. I want them to be as close to their relatives as I am now.