Memories and Moments of Nostalgia...

Earlier today, I was sorting through yet another box from the big mess in my home office closet. I vowed to myself that I would eventually get it done. At the pace I am moving, I’ll probably have it all tidied up about at the time when we’ll be ready to sell this house and move to a smaller one!

Anyway… there were quite a few things in some envelopes going back all the way to my University days, and before.

Typed copies (remember typewriters?) of some old college English papers that were actually short stories I’d written; some photos dating back to high school and a few other things.

I got to thinking about the way part of my past seem to be almost impossibly far away. I look around me, and think about things from my more recent memory… and it seems like I am looking at something I am not even entirely sure was actually from my life.

I know it is, of course, because the ”evidence” is right there… but it almost feels like I am some kind of strange voyeur, not the person who actually lived through that time.

It may sound slightly strange, but occasionally I use Google street view to ”creep” on some of the places I used to call home, once upon a time.

I found an old ticket stub for the ferry from Harwich in England to Esbjerg in Denmark… a huge overnight ferry I would take back to Denmark when my sessions in boarding school in the UK were out for term breaks. I remember the sheer scale of the boat, compared to the Washington State Ferries we regularly use here… with room for more than 1,000 cars and several thousand passengers per crossing.

Like many things from the past, that particular ferry route doesn’t even exist anymore…

Many of the other locations are still there, although it seems like quite a few of them have been not only modernized, but also somewhat ”gentrified.”

I have heard it said that as we get older, we tend to spend more time looking back at our memories than at the future… allegedly because we have increasingly more time behind us, than ahead of us. It makes a lot of sense, actually.

If I’m lucky, I might have another 20-odd years in me… but that also means that three-quarters of my life has already happened!

Unlike many, I am not afraid of aging, nor of being old. I’m not sure society’s seeming obsession with youth and ”eternal life” is a healthy thing… seems like an invitation to worry a lot, and who’s got time for that?!?!

My time will come, when it comes... and that's OK. In the meantime, I plan to enjoy myself as much as possible... regardless of whether that means waxing nostalgic over old photos, or longing for whatever we'll be growing in our vegetable garden next summer!

Thanks for reading, and have a great week ahead!

How about YOU? Do you spend much time reflecting on growing older, and memories from the past? Do you ever long to revisit spots from your childhood and youth? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 20221024 00:02 PDT
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