Nostalgia

Tonight I'm feeling incredibly nostalgic for the people and events of the first half of the year after seeing some of my friend's photos. It's a funny thing - incredible longing, but you can't go back. Even a return to the same place would have a different feel. I guess nostalgia is good because it shows that you have had true meaning and good people in your life. I can be guilty of spending my time looking back rather than appreciating the present. Even in the seasons that you would like to fast forward through, there is good to be found. I guess the key is to be fully present in each phase of life! I have a dear friend who does this so well. She says that it is "hard to be somewhere else when the now is so exciting!"

I don't want to leave here, I don't want to stay. It feels like pinching to me either way. The places I long for the most are the places where I've been. They are calling out to me like a long lost friend....

I've been painting pictures of Egypt and leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard and I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I've learned
Those roads were closed off to me while my back was turned.

The past is so tangible, I know it by heart, familiar things are never easy to discard. I was longing for some freedom, but now I hesitate to go, I am caught between the promise and the things I know....
(Sara Groves, Painting Pictures of Egypt)