Nostalgia

You know what's even more rare than Tee taking an afternoon nap?  Tee and Matthew taking an afternoon nap.  You know what's even more rare than Tee and Matthew taking an afternoon nap?  Tee, Matthew and Julia taking an afternoon nap ... yep, I've had the afternoon to myself.

There's something I've been thinking and wondering about lately.  Yes, it's the title of my blog today.  Nostalgia.  I've wondered about it because I was curious about the guilty pleasure I get from watching old t.v. shows.  If I ever feel down or overwhelmed I like to watch shows from my past.  Why would the golden girls make me feel safe?  Why would facts of life make me feel like things were simple again?  Nostalgia is a yearning for the past in a idealized form.  I know that with nostalgia "the good old days" are romanticised, but there must be some positive feelings that go along with it.  If your past was terrible then you probably wouldn't feel safe when your senses are stimulated by something that reminds you of the past.

For a lot of people the smells and sights of Christmas bring back those nostalgic feelings.  This is probably why when I'm really down I like to watch the Christmas specials of old shows from the 80's and 90's.  Does anyone else feel this way?  I often get this with the change of every season too.  Those fuzzy feelings come back when I see the leaves start to turn and I get the urge to get new paper and pens and start being productive.  Or when the smell of spring comes I'm brought back to spring on the farm and playing in the creek that ran through our field. I don't really want to go back to those days ... I just enjoy the feeling that my senses give me when I see/feel/smell and hear these things. 


One thing I don't understand is that I get nostalgia for time periods that I didn't even exsist in.  Sometimes I really wish it was the 1950's ... perhaps this is just a nostalgia spin off from watching Leave it to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show when I was a kid.  Wouldn't it be cool to live on a street like the Cleavers and go to the malt shop after school?  Doesn't that sound simple?  Of course, this is the romanticised version which is what nostalgia is all about ... 


Regardless, I like the feeling I get when I watch an old rerun of Who's the Boss and eat a warm bowl of soup.  It's my secret guilty pleasure.  Don't tell anyone.