I was recently browsing through one of the boxes we brought over to New Zealand with us, the one containing old photos and other memorabilia of days gone by. I always get drawn into a world resplendent in nostalgia as soon as I see images of places and people that used to be part of my everyday life. Memories come flooding back like a gentle breeze forewarns of a storm. Feelings are awakened and more memories rekindled until I can close my eyes as the storm evolves around me. I am in that place once more. With those people again. No time has passed from the point the photo was taken till now. Then I open my eyes and the storm of nostalgia abruptly ends as I fall to reality with an awareness of place and time. Around me I see very little that connects who I am to my past experiences, just old photos. The young and healthy guy I see in the photos is not the middle age man I have become. It cannot be the same person. A recent slip at work has left me creaking and groaning, unable to stand without a grimace, walking has become a shuffle, doctors appointments to go to, gentle exercises to do, egos to mend and self esteem to be nurtured. It simply cannot be the same person.
No comments:
Post a Comment