Just found my old Hey Arnold! VHS tape and the memories hit hard

I was cleaning out my parents' attic in Portland last month and found a box labeled 'kid stuff'. Inside was a single, dusty VHS tape of a Hey Arnold! episode I taped back in '98. I mean, the label was in my terrible 3rd grade handwriting and everything. I dug out an old VCR from the garage, hooked it up, and the whole intro with the city skyline just flooded back. It's wild how a cartoon from 25 years ago can make you feel like you're 8 again, sitting cross-legged on the carpet. Anyone else have a specific show that instantly takes you back like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

mary_ross26d ago

Finding that kind of stuff is the best! It's funny how a smell or a song can do the same thing. My brain just locks onto a random detail from back then and the whole feeling comes rushing back. It's like our own personal time machine, way better than any history book.

tessaw7726d ago

That's a cool find, but it doesn't really work that way for me. My old stuff just feels like a different person lived that life. @mary_ross, I get what you're saying about a time machine, but for me it's more like looking at a museum display. The feelings don't come back, they just seem really far away. Hey Arnold was great, but finding the tape would just make me think about how long ago that was.

hugo_cooper7d ago

Isn't it wild how that works? I'm totally with you, @tessaw77, it's like looking at a photo of a stranger sometimes. I found my old baseball glove last year and just felt nothing, even though I lived for that thing. But then a whiff of a certain sunscreen will hit me and I'm right back at my grandma's pool. Why do some things open the door and others just stay shut?