Midlife Crisis

I'm not sure if I'm at my exact midlife. If I live to be 80 then yes, I am at midlife. Regardless, I feel as if midlife crisis is an outdated, extreme term. There really isn't a true crisis. It's more of a feeling. I'm partway between childhood and old age and as I continue to get older, I find myself looking back at my childhood with nostalgic eyes. Which is ironic as I am moving farther and farther away from those years of wonder. Maybe it's a built in mechanism for keeping those memories alive. I'm not an evolutionary biologist so I can't answer that question. Notwithstanding, I do look at my childhood and yearn for those simpler days. The days filled with fun and wonder. Where politics was something that only excited adults and we say oblivious to world events. While we had a vague idea that some not so good things were happening, our lives never seemed affected and we continued to have fun. It's tougher to do that as an adult. Typically one has to be inebriated to forgot the goings on of the world. Of course this is not the best way to do that. We are bombarded by darkness throughout the day, even though I do my best to avoid it. I do get some relief at home, well, until the kids start acting up. But that does get me to forget the outside world! Anyway, I recently converted a room in our house to an office. Technically it's for my wife and I but I may have taken over. And how did I take over? Well, I decided to create my little sanctuary filled with memories of my youth. I have added toys, figures and images that were popular during my time growing up. This is of course much to my wife's chagrin. And I feel that there is a huge market for nostalgia. Just look on Amazon. There are reproductions of toys that were popular in the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, some of these have been memorialized as Micro Figures and Funko Pops (yes, I do have some of these). I have also been into Legos recently and have just completed a Sonic the Hedgehog set. It was an early birthday gift. I think that we need these types of spaces, especially us men. Women tend not to understand our fascination with old toys and collectibles but I believe that it is a way to keep a grasp on our childhood where things were simple. Life is not simple as an adult but if we can keep our childhood in the form of figurines and collectibles, I would say that it is a small price to pay for our sanity.