- Elicit
I seem to experience intense feelings of nostalgia rather frequently in my everyday life. It’s brought on by the simplest or mundane of things, like the way the sun hits the top of conifers in the morning or evening, the trilling of a bird in the distance during certain seasons or weather conditions, the way a wall clock ticks away steadily in the stillness of my home (especially when accompanied by motes of dust in the sunlight), or the smell of a running air conditioner.
These moments illicit elicit both mysterious and beautiful emotions, but are hurled at me constantly. While I enjoy the feelings they give me, I seem to experience them far more often than I think most would consider normal. I don’t know if there is a term for this sense of hyper-nostalgia, or what (if anything) it’s indicative of. Most of it is tied to insignificant moments from my childhood, like lying in the melting snow on a Spring day (the trilling bird), or sitting bored in the car waiting on my mother (the sun on conifers), but a lot of it is more ambiguous.
So I thought it would be fun to ask other people what their strongest (and perhaps recurring) moments of nostalgia are triggered and/or tied to. What are some of yours?
This one is easy for me. When I was a kid, my mom made a hamburger casserole. The ingredients were fairly cheap, it was easy to make, delicious, and filling – all perfect for a single mother who worked long hours. Needless to say, we had it pretty regularly. When she passed away, my wife inherited all of her recipes. Mom has been gone 10 years, but when my wife makes it, it tastes just like it used to and takes me back to a time when, even though we didn’t have much money, it was her and me against the world. Eating it now gives me a warm comfortable feeling.
In fact, I’m going to text my wife now and tell her that I’d like some for supper this week.
I’m instantly getting the Ratatouille visuals when Ego eats the dish from his childhood when reading a story like this and it gives me goosebumps. Wish I had something like this.