Sudden Attack of Nostalgia

Watching a recent Colbert, a guest recalled a past role where he played an elf named 'Swifty'. For the majority of the viewing audience that didn't rate a second thought.

For me it opened the floodgates of memory.

'Swifty' made me think ... Damon Runyan, and that made me think ... The Lemon Drop Kid, and that made me think of Bob Hope, and then memories of all of the movies he made that I like (and even a few I didn't) came pouring out of my brain's equivalent of a dusty, cluttered closet.

And with those memories came an overwhelming wave of bittersweet nostalgia.

It's the kind of experience we older folks can have that younger types just can't generate.  They haven't lived long enough.  This is one of the few nice things about getting older.

But as I mentioned, these thoughts are bitter as well as sweet, because the things we remember are gone - often long gone, and their like will never return.

The feeling that ensues is sometimes an odd, off-kilter one.  It can make me feel dizzy and disconnected with the present.  But only for a moment.

The wave of triggered nostalgia fades and the present resumes its rightful prominence.  For a moment, though, you are suddenly young again within your old self, seeing the world again with youthful emotions.

For all of you in the same temporal boat, enjoy riding the waves of nostalgia.