NOSTALGIA

A couple of weeks ago, my daugater bought me a book.  It was a book titled
"  The lost writings of Jim Morrison".  In case you don't know, Jim Morrison was the lead singer and song writer of the rock group The Doors.  He died way to early, which can be said of many of the Rock Stars of the 60s.  One of the poems in the book really made my mind start running.  To awake my mind I've found, is sometimes good and sometimes can be dangerous.  May this short poem, or some of my memories that follow it,  awaken  something in you.

       A man rakes leaves into
       heap in his yard,  a pile,
       & leans on his rake &
       burns them utterly.
       The fragrance fills the forest,
       children pause & heed the
       smell, which will become
       nostalgia in several years.


Nostalgia........The dictionary says it is the yearning for the past, often in idealized form.
Do you yearn for the past?  Of course we all do at times.  As I think back I yearn for the way fresh cut grass smelled when I was a child.  Or the way a watermelon tasted when my cousin Stuart would take me down in the pasture to the springhouse  and he would  grab a ripe watermelon out of the spring,  bust it on the ground and we would eat the heart out of it.  I would love to go back to Bessie Branham Park and play a grey-Y football game and have Mike Wages hand the ball off to me just one more time.  Or what I wouldn't give to have just one more foot race with my little black friend Leon, even though I know he would win again.   Or how about just one more ride on my shiny Cushman Eagle.  Wow,  the freedom I felt when I was riding down Boulivard Drive without a worry in the world.  Or how about jumping in what was called a back seat of the TR3 that my sister Dianne's boyfriend Julian had and going over to get a ground beef and cheese pizza.  I don't remember the name of the drive-in but to this day it's the best pizza I ever had,or  maybe it was the company and not the pizza.  Oh,  and how about going out in the middle of my street, Leland Terrace and playing football with Pete, Tommy, Butch, Lane and all the other guys.  I bet I can go back now and still show you which telephone poles were the goal lines.  Or the pride I felt when I would take mine and Dianne's new toy, our little sister Terri,  out for a walk and hearing the neighbors tell me how pretty she was.  As I think back I remember Mom taking Jeff and me down to a creek to catch tad poles and me falling down,  getting soaking wet, and mom laughing out loud.  I can still hear that laugh.  Or the anticipation on Wednesdays, which was dads short day on the bread route, of his getting home and us heading up to Lake Lanier to go fishing.  And thinking of fishing,  I love the memory of camping on the river with my Uncle CW and working the trot lines.  I could go on and on with my memories but I also love the memories of loved ones.  Of Peggy talking about picking peaches with her dad or her mom riding a pony they had.  Of her granny quilting.  I loved listening to Dad  talk about when he was a boy down on the farm and Mom telling us stories about her life growing up and the things her dad built for them.  And my father-in-law was one of the best story tellers of all time.  He could really spin a yarn about his childhood.

Nostalgia.......The yearning for the past......It is fun to think about it but sometimes we must remember we live in the present.  It was fun back then but we must remember in years to come our children and grand children will be telling stories about when they were young.  Make sure you do your part in making their nostalgia a pleasant experience.  Don't worry about spending the dime.....spend the time....MAKE SURE THEY KNOW THEY'RE LOVED....and make some memories.

And now....Do you remember the smell of burning leaves or when..........................