Another piece by our Abuelo. Thanks, Rey, for sharing your memories with us.
Quite coincidentally, as I was formatting this piece to run, I was watching Modern Marvels, and they were running a piece this morning on Henry Flagler, his plan to utilize Key West for a shipping port and his building of the Florida Overseas railroad and hotel ventures on the Keys in the 1880s.
It wasn’t the fact that I was being nostalgic, but more of a mind fart during a quiet period of reflection as to what nostalgia and being nostalgic is all about.
Well, as defined, being nostalgic can be both, positive and negative. Some researchers have focused more on the negativity side of it and describe it as an inability to accept the past or what we’ve lost, and something that stopped us from being in the present. Then, of course, some recent research now claims nostalgia as a mental health positive. Wonder how much those govmint studies cost, paid for by our tax dollars. Never mind that.
What I have realized thru the years is that the nostalgia we reminisce of today did not exists while in the present of that particular yesterday (meaning, that day and time we think of did not have nostalgia; it’s just a date/time/event). Sure, memories are established on a given occurrence, a life altering event, but nostalgia is not recognized until sometime later in life. It’s as if the heartfelt feelings of a given event are removed or distanced somewhat when we are nostalgic. One can argue that nostalgia is triggered specifically by feelings of loneliness, but I counter that premise. Nostalgia is a form of reminiscence that can be explained as a first-person memory, typically of an event or experience surrounded with friends or family, or moments of personal happiness or darkness. It’s as if we are romanticizing the past through a filtered 8mm movie in our minds.
Anywho, this piece is not about rehashing the sad events in our lives. Nor is it my intention to bring you there. I like to keep it positive. Life has much to offer and we, as individuals, have much to offer life and loved ones as well. Let us go back to the times we lived in the moment that was yesterday, not knowing they would become nostalgic. Whether a first pet, a bicycle, a family vacation or annual gathering with family, siblings, cousins, and the older parental generation. Personally, for me, it wasn’t the absence of wealth but what we enjoyed with what we had.
I’ll start it off with one of my favorites. There wasn’t much money for extended vacations but boy we made it fun. A caravan of 3-4 cars filled with family on a one-day trip to Key West from Miami every few years. Early morning departure with homemade sammiches and drinks in the trunk. Given the gasoline experiences of the mid 70s and the established slower speed limits on the roads at the time was the thing, arriving nearly four hours later to the sights and sounds of a sleepy village on the water. Kids and just a few adults (to save on spending) rode the Key West trolley for sightseeing. Thereafter, a walk to Mallory Square (we did skip the sunset view) and the old neighborhoods in and around Duval Street. Amazing. A quick lunch out of the trunk of the cars and back north with a scheduled stop at Bahia Honda State Park. A beautiful calm beach under a bridge, where everyone traveling the Overseas Highway made a stop. Into the water we went to cool off, swim and frolic. After a few hours and just before sunset, the drive home over the awesomeness of the Seven-mile bridge. No, not the one we know of today, the one completed as a railroad bridge in 1912 and later converted into a two-lane highway. Fun days. Fun days indeed.
Ok FRers. Do your best. Don’t stop at just one nostalgia. And don’t be limited to travel. Feel free to go off topic as is the norm but do return with some more of your best memories.
