after a meeting in roanoke yesterday, I wandered off and discovered my new favorite place (more on this soon). as I meandered through the leftovers of lives and history, I was struck at how powerful an emotion nostalgia is. an object, a scent, a feeling triggers our memory and we momentarily travel through time to be there. there. whether it be with a loved one or friend who is gone from our lives or a grand or small experience that fell in an earlier chapter of our book, nostalgia puts us there. it has to be the most lovely of emotions and a huge plus of growing older.when I turned 11, I had a strawberry birthday: strawberry cake, strawberry ice cream, strawberry soda pop. the soda came from the pop shoppe, a bright little memory from my childhood. there were just a few close friends at my slumber party, all dressed in pink or red. we talked and giggled and laughed belly laughs 'til we cried. the glass bottles of soda kept coming and we sipped it through pink straws with wild abandon.
when I saw these bottles yesterday, I heard faint giggles tinged with a mix of uncertainty and courage. I felt on the edge of something transformative, just as when I was 11 and moving from childhood to adolescence.
and I smelled strawberry.
