November 15th, 2022

I've had a number of magazine subscriptions over the years, "Highlights for Children" when I was very young, "Mad Magazine" when I was a little older and then "Tiger Beat" in my teen years.  But I wasn't the only one in our family to subscribe to a magazine.  I think everybody had at  least one, sometimes more than one.  The house was littered with reading material.

I know that "National Geographic" and "Life" magazines were always on our coffee tables no matter what our address was along with "Time" and "Readers Digest."  There were others of course. Some fell out of favour along the way and others were experiments that only lasted the length of one subscription and were not followed by renewals.  But there were always new ones coming along.  Didn't matter to me, I read them all.

When the boys were younger I would try to find a new and different magazine every Chrismtas for each of them to subscribe to them and the first issue went right into their stockings.  There are a LOT of  magazines out there so there was never an issue finding a new one. Needless to say, I am a fan of magazines.  However, somehow, I never buy any for myself.  I guess I never needed to.

Once Joy and I were out on our own, our Mother succumbed to the siren call of every single child who came to her door selling subscriptions and suddenly at least one magazine was arriving in nearly every post.  Everything from magazines about birds, to decorating to 'ladies magazines' such as Redbook and Ladies Home Journal.  Eventually Mother discovered People magazine and other similar publications were everywhere in the house.  I don't know that she actually read any of them, but she definitely flipped through at the very least and looked at all of the pictures.  And then when she was ready, the best part happened.  She passed the magazines on. First to Joy and her girls because they were local. And then eventually via the mail to me.  I loved mail day!

At some point, Mother began getting a magazine called, Reminisce and I absolutely fell in love with it.  It was about history and people's stories and I love both of those things.  Old photographs and the paragraphs that describe them comprised the bulk of the periodical and I am all about that.  There was always a section devoted to a particular year, let's say, 1942, and it highlighted all sorts of things that happened that year.  From historic events, to most  popular entertainer to slang words that came into being that year.  There might be personal stories about childhood memories (and accompanying photos) or a collection of "how we met" stories from long married folks or tales of camping adventures.  Every issue had different stories and different photographs and I loved them all.   I cannot say really, why this magazine in particular spoke to me above all of the others, but it did.

I looked forward to the  arrival of these pre-read magazines in the mail with great eagerness.  Sometimes Mother would put little stickers on certain articles with notes on them. I could rarely actually read the notes, but I loved that she bothered to try to point something out to me.  (her handwriting was worse than mine and that is saying something!).  There were usually crumbs from whatever she was eating as she flipped through in the creases of the pages and sometimes a tea stain here and there.  Didn't matter to me one bit.  I poured over every word on every page and nearly memorized each photograph.  

Eventually the monthly manila envelope stuffed to over flowing with magazines and notes and stickies stopped coming.  Mother had reached that point in her life where just making it through each day was an accomplishment and when she was gone, I certainly wasn't thinking about magazines!

But eventually, maybe a year later, in a grocery store of all places, I saw an issue of Reminisce and of course, immediately it reminded of my mom.  So I treated myself to one issue.  Which lead Tim to buying me a subscription (my one and only subscription)  and I've been reading my own copy with no notes, or crumbs or illegible stickies in it.  I always save each issue and pass it along to Joy and Bob who also enjoy it.  

I guess I assumed that as long as Tim continued to renew the subscription, that it would continue forever.  Turns out, not so much.  In yesterdays  mail, I got a postcard from Readers Digest saying that Reminisce magazine is no longer being published.  Dang.  There was no opportunity to linger longingly over the last issue - knowing that it was the final one.  No warning, no goodbye, no nothing. Just, "it is no longer being published".  Not even an explanation as to the why of it.

I am unaccountably sad.  Oh the post card went on to say that for the remainder of my subscription they will be sending me Readers Digest. And thank you that's very nice. But it's not the same. Readers Digest in no way resembles Reminisce.  And there isn't that connection, the reminder of generations past. The history lessons, the photographs, the personal stories are gone forever.  And never again will I open the mailbox to find an issue and immediately link it to memories of my mother.  

I know that more and more magazines are disappearing.   Most  people would rather read it on line, they say.  Well, I don't want to read it on line. I want to read it in the bathtub. I want to literally turn the pages and fold it backwards, not click the mouse.  I want to write my own illegible sticky notes before passing it on to someone else.    But that's not happening.

I am usually pretty adaptable. I ride with the tide and go with the flow.  I learned how to use a computer and a cell phone. I love having a dishwasher and a Ring doorbell.  I applaud many of the modern conveniences and inventions and especially medical advances!  But some small part of me longs for a connection to the past and the 'olden days'.   And now it's gone.

RIP Reminisce Magazine.  I will miss you.