The adage says, “You can never go back.” Why? What you wish for has changed. You’ve moved on. So has it, and they. Nothing stays the same.
Nostalgia has a history of dealing with the places we once called home that we miss with a morbid fascination. Where we are today does not meet the standard of where you came from. Hence, you yearn to return to yesteryear.
Nostalgia, from the original 1688 usage, relates to homesickness. [Source] It has been said to be connected to sailors, convicts, and slaves who crossed great oceans and yearned to see the shores of their homeland.
Through the years, this has changed.
In today’s modern times,
Nostalgia talks about the great memories
of another space and place of time.
Wistful memories.
Some day, memories will be all you have.
Don’t waste time. Make memories today.
Wistful Memories
I think of it as I remember those growing-up years when we had friends and family to hang out with when I compare modern hamburger joints to Helen’s in Channelview or those places where we used to load up with burgers that were six for a dollar – only bread, meat, and ketchup!
I remember going to a little island gas station that has long since disappeared due to the growth of Highway 146 in Seabrook. For the first time, I learned that tractor tires could be partially filled with water for ballast and weight! About seven years old or so.
Digging through my treasures of memories, I feel an overwhelming sense of nostalgic connection backward. Never forward. Nostalgia deals with the past and the memories, even if they are colored by younger eyes and only see what can be remembered with fondness.
I remember a long thorn going deeply into my foot – I cannot remember the pain. Why? It’s been trounced by the spectacular camping events at Fish Gill Lake in the Trinity River Bottom, Ace, Texas. Firelight. Camp cooking. BB Guns. Scout Knife. Fishing in snake and alligator-infested waters, and not even remembering the heat, sweat, or mosquitoes…
I remember riding a long downhill road with the breeze flying through my hair. But I don’t remember the toil of pushing my bike up that hill so the thrill could be savored again.
We remember the good times, gloss over those bad and ugly scars, and then yearn for times that might have been not as good as our memories. Why? Because we don’t remember everything.
Balance Nostalgia With Reality
There’s a fine line between nostalgia and reality. I’ve noted this concept before in other arenas. Consider the lines between:
- Love and hate
- Like and dislike
- Hot and warm, Hot and cold, Cold and cool
- Smells good, or not
- Taste good, or not
- Too loud, or just loud enough
- …etcetera
I’m reminded of Little Red Riding Hood – looking for something just right!
Here’s my key. I cannot return in time and relive the good times except in my memories. Words written help me relive those moments, but the silent thoughts allow me to flash through more nostalgia than my fingers can record on a keyboard.
Yet, I will not fail to relive memories by sharing these times in my blog. They keep me alive! Memories are all we will be left with. Our last breath will not be wishing we had worked harder or more, but of those grand historical moments we knew and the nostalgic joy they bring us.
As I share my memories, I hope they instill in the reader that the past is not all bad. It’s what we do now with what we remember from back then, and make a difference in the future.
Memories are the key not to the past,
but to the future.
~Corrie Ten Boom