Nostalgia

A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations defines nostalgia.

Look around and what do we save? Those little nick knacks that cover any flat surface. The walls are covered in photographs of family gatherings and old strangers who came before. Photo albums document family and children and now social media videos can share with the world events that no one else cares about.

This is all personal remembrances of times gone by you wish to be reminded of.

Those old pots in the kitchen passed down through generations are no better than the modern improved cooking utensils but bring back memories of a long gone smell of another kitchen. The old rusty tools handed down from father to son are never used but have their place in the shop. A quilt or an afghan drapes over the couch prepared by some long gone granny. A rickety rocker or beat up table takes up room and doesn’t fit in with current décor, but it is nostalgic.

There is a story behind all these items or they would just be stuff.

What is surprising is when we go back to old homesteads or haunting grounds we remember the restaurants. They may have been dives or joints or holes-in-the-walls but they had great memories. Was it the food or the company?

Nostalgia is a good subject to bring up when old folks get together. Comparing tales of times gone by that memory might challenge the details, but they always bring a laugh and a sense of camaraderie.

There is more than that to nostalgia.

When you look at old pictures or videos do you remember the clothing? Where did you buy it? What did it feel like? Why did you have that haircut? What were you eating and drinking? What happened afterwards?

Close your eyes and remember when was your first haircut, first bicycle, high school graduation, first car purchase, first job interview?

All these were memorable moments in your history but dig a little deeper.

When was your first kiss? When was your first fight? When was the first time you went to hospital? When was the first time someone other than your mother touched your privates? When was the first time you touched someone else’s? What is the birthday of your ex? What are the names of the people you went to college with?

We seem to have cognitive selection of what we want to remember and what we want to forget.

Do you remember your first break-up? Do you remember performing a crime? Do you remember all your lies?