Titanic. Forrest Gump. Jurassic Park. Harry Potter. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Clueless. Pulp Fiction. Whitney. Grunge, prep, and hip hop. The 90s nostalgia is real. Did we ever really say Bye-Bye-Bye?

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” ~ Ferris Bueller

I almost missed that line from John Hughes’s (80s, not 90s) movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when I heard it delivered in the theater. And that quote is the whole point of the movie. I guess I was focused on something else. Or possibly many somethings.

But years later, my son, born in 1990, used those words as the theme for his Common App college essay, and I suddenly recalled them clear as day. Fortunately, my son has pretty much taken Ferris’s life advice. I try. Most of the time.

It’s hard these days, because the world is spinning extra fast, continually shedding AI slop like potter’s wheel clay from the movie Ghost (1990). But with all the nostalgia right now for the 1990s, those last oblivious years before media became a 24/7 digital dump, I have to admit I’ve been completely sucked into those “Mom, what were you like in the 90s?” reels.

I tried to find some 90s photos of me—not to post, just to visit—but very few exist. For one thing, I was a mom, so I was the person mostly taking the pictures. Not great ones, either. I used those instant Kodak cameras (a store right across from my office developed them, if and when I even remembered to drop them off), and occasional Polaroids. The quality was poor at best, blurred with the colors way off, and no digital filters to produce perfectly curated snapshots of a moment. But the photos have heart, I guess, and it’s clear they were not for sharing. Just remembering (and tossing the worst of the worst in the real-life trash bin).

This morning I scrolled my phone in bed, procrastinating my day/wasting my life reading about the Carolyn Bissette/JFK Jr TV show I will probably never see. Apparently the “younger” generations, many of whom weren’t even born in the 90s, are fascinated with the days when people were forced to live their lives in real-time. The ones who got their news from tabloid newstands or watching Dan Rather or Connie Chung.

Here are a few shots from my IRL, imperfect 90s.  

Yup, women did it all. Here’s me and 2 of my kids in our napkin-sized Brooklyn apartment, off to do errands (note the BandAids on my son–and my wristwatch):

This is my daughter here. I was struck by the way she rolled on her way to play in the park. (Look, Ma, no Ipad!)

Here I am “dressed up” at the Country Music Awards (a spousal work event). This is the same Gaylord Opryland where Bouchercon was held recently, but outside on a balcony. No matter that you can’t tell that; this was pre-Insta. I still have the jacket. Just wore it yesterday.

I was shocked to find I had zero pix of me from Random House, or any of my other publishing jobs. Guess we were just too busy. But here’s me (sort of) at an event for Teen Magazine, 1998:

Uh-oh. Now I’m afraid I’m wasting your time, Readers. Please forgive the serious nostalgia, but I may have shed a tear or two this morning wishing I could go back (taking all my friends and family from the present with me, of course). I even jotted down (on paper, with a pen) the names of my fave-but-long-forgotten 90s minimal-makeup shades I just saw on Insta. (Twig; Suede; Rice Paper; Russian Red…)

Hey, I may need those notes on my way to the 90s-era Macys cosmetics counter. Because I’m leaving my cell phone here in the 2020s.

Anyone? Anyone?

Readers, what are you most nostalgic for from the 90s…or are  you strictly focused on the future?