Amy Middleton Loves New York

Growing up, I was hooked on the nostalgia of the 1950’s. I longed to live in the era of jukeboxes, saddle shoes, and sock hops. It was this unexplainable love for all things 50’s that eventually led to an interest in the 60’s, followed by an obsession for The Beatles and an arguably hippie lifestyle in my teens.

I haven’t given “era hopping” much thought recently (Quantum Leap conversations notwithstanding), and every day I’m glad to benefit from technology and advancements that weren’t available even a few years ago.

My brother is serving in the Mexico City East mission, and he emails us regularly and sends us digital pictures, making communication so much easier than when I was in the field. Missionaries weren’t permitted to email then, and a digital camera was not only cost-prohibitive but didn’t allow for picture development within the countries I was serving. I had a cheap camera with batteries that always fell out, and only few pictures I took during that time are even in existence as far as I know. I still am hoping that when this journey is through, I am greeted by angels handing me photo albums of my mission. That would be sweet.

Today I was looking at an online mission photo album of someone I don’t even know, and it made me strangely nostalgic. I wish I had been able to capture, archive, and publish data so easily. Granted, much of my life is still before me. I have access to amazing tools and technology that will only improve. But if I think about how much more effective my pursuits and efforts of yore would have been if I had had access to Google in high school, or a throw away 2 megapixel camera with a gig of memory in Honduras, I think maybe I’d prefer to experience that than the 1950’s.