What Makes Stuff Feel Nostalgic To You?

     Sometimes I'll just smell someone's perfume and get transported back to when I was six years old because it smells exactly like my Grammy. Anyone else?

    Or when I come across a video on the internet that says something like, "Hey Gen Z kids, do you guys remember this?" and it's certain dolls or games that I grew up playing with that I had completely forgotten about.

    Yesterday my brother sent me a reel that was explaining what it was like growing up with a sibling, and one of them covered the television censor for the remote so the other one couldn't change the channel. What a wild concept now, "T.V. channel". 

    I don't know if deja vu plays a part in the feeling of nostalgia. I get it a lot, though. Usually when I'm out in public with someone else. I'll say that I remember doing this, whatever it is that we're doing, as if maybe I had dreamed about it a long time ago or something. I don't know. 

    Old movies, old songs, old video recordings, old places you used to visit... There's something so bittersweet about wanting to go back to a time which you can barely remember now. When I think back to being a toddler, was I even truly happy? Or was I just not conscious yet? How do I know if I felt joy? How do I know if I felt anything at all? Besides maybe hunger. 

    We don't really know. Especially if you're someone like me who forgets most of their childhood anyways. Some of us would still trade everything they have right now just to go back for a day or two. I understand it. I also understand how nostalgia can make it seem like something was better before, even if it's not necessarily true. 

    I don't think nostalgia has ever tricked me into wanting to go back to being a kid again, even if it was all sunshine and rainbows. I think what's coming is better. At least, I hope it is. 

                                                                                                                             - Koiz