It’s not
every day that our thoughts go to all the fun we had in our younger years. Who
has the time or focus to prioritize nostalgia when real life issues are
clogging up the brain?
Alas, I have
discovered a most perfect way to slip these happy thoughts into my daily
routine.
It all
starts when I go to bed. I don’t have to pull out photo albums, listen to any
kind of music, search through old mementos or have had conversations earlier in
the day leading to a walk down memory lane that night.
All I need
to do is to gaze at the string of lights that my neighbors installed to outline
their backyard fence, which I can see when I lay my head on my pillow.
This view
immediately takes me back some 30+ years to one particular summer when I brought
my toddlers to Ocean City, New Jersey for a week at the beach with my girlfriends.
A handful or more of us had rented a house and each mom had one bedroom, with
her kids. My bed was by a window. That first evening, I realized that the
window faced the Ferris wheel at the amusement park on the boardwalk, where we
all had just left an hour or two before, and which was still lighting up the
sky.
I went from thinking
I’ll never get to sleep in here; it’s way too bright...to somehow dozing
off despite that...to I can’t wait till bedtime to savor the view once
again.
That one
short remembrance from the 1990s always sets into motion a stream of reflections
of summers before and after, along with an endless supply of random moments. These
flashbacks I allow in are joyous. They always make me smile, as I relive my experiences
of motherhood when laughter and love for my babies provided the purest form of
happiness and gratification imaginable. They also highlight those special peeps
who have greatly enhanced my life.
Often it’s
those fond memories that smooth out the rough times of the present. When I've had a frustrating day or my frame of mind is gloomy, a pleasant recollection
can go a long way in helping me to reset.
