Strolling Down Nostalgia Lane

This week, I have been feeling weirdly nostalgic. I hear the theme songs from the commercials of my childhood (the Producers Dairy and Olberti Olives theme songs in particular). I have been thinking about the unique attributes of the quality of my life then. I know it's impossible to contrast the media messages in those innocent, halcyon days contrasted with a far more complex, dog-eat-dog existence but somehow today I do. I sorta miss my life then.

When I think of perfect happiness, I can isolate it to a moment. That moment takes place when I am not yet 18 years old. I am outside on a late summer evening in the patio of our family home in the Central Valley. It is quiet, save the random passing of a car and the onset of the automatic lawn sprinkler system. The air is still and thick with the scent of night blooming jasmine. There is the sweet coo of a dove that comes in unexpected starts but it's such a pretty melody that it is deeply comforting. Crickets chorus. The breeze wipes along the expanse of one's arm. The eucalyptus trees sway like ballet dancers in half time motion despite their great size. And I watch the stars race in a factual synchronized dance. The sky is so dark and so pure, but it's not threatening. It's rather inspiring. I hated to go inside that night. Of course, I eventually did.

I still think of that night. If I could recapture that same level of happiness of my life again, I do think I will have found my own Valhalla.