What is a Word Worth? nostalgia

Sara and I are laughing so hard we can't breathe, her company is so warm and welcoming. I've never felt so comfortable and safe with any person in my life, we are truly best friends. As the roar of laughter settles to some giggles I realize just how late it's gotten, 8pm. I look outside to see the sky ablaze with a sunset burning in purples and oranges. I give Sara a hug and thank her for having me over, reaching for my skateboard and fly out the front door. Skating down our neighborhood to my house I stop to look up at that gorgeous sunset. It's the prettiest I've ever seen, it looks like it was painted. I take a deep breath and smell the blooming jasmine flowers that line our streets, the gulp of air rejuvenating with springtime California air. As I keep going I'm plagued with the thought that someday soon I'll no longer have the safety net of Sara and simple days like these, that one day these memories will be riddled with painful nostalgia.

Nostalgia. Defined as "A feeling of pleasure and sometimes slight sadness at the same time as you think about things that happened in the past". This word comes from a Greek compound meaning "homecoming" and "pain", later coined by a medical student in the 17th century to describe anxieties displayed by french mercenaries. It was said that nostalgia led these mercenaries to the point of such great longing that it led to illness or death. Nostalgia became a very romanticized term in Switzerland because of works by Der Schweizer by Achim von Arnim (1805) and in Clemens Brentano's Des Knaben Wunderhorn, as well as Swiss musical influences.

I'm walking through target doing my normal weekly errands, boring stuff. I make my way through my grocery list: Bananas, protein, bread, blueberries, deodorant, mascara, etc. Something in the home section catches my eye though, so I cut through the middle of the store to investigate the object. It's a body pillow, with an intoxicatingly softcover. Running my fingers over it I am overwhelmed with a wave of nostalgia. My childhood blanket, cleverly named "Blank", was this exact same fabric. I am overcome with happy memories back to my childhood self comfortably drifting to sleep running my fingers over that blanket as I cuddled it. These memories give tender thoughts of feeling so safe and comfortable, without a care in the world. Suddenly a worker asks me "finding everything okay?" and I am snapped back to reality. 

Through research I found nostalgia and inducing that emotion is a common tactic used in media advertising. Companies use nostalgia evoking images, sounds, and references to create a sense of need and connectedness between the consumer and the product being presented. This typically leads to the buying, watching, or consumption of the product. Modern technology allows for this advertising tactic to be used very easily. 

I'm running around playing with my cousin Sophia at her fifth birthday party. She's going on and on about how much she loves kindergarten to me. I know the feeling her young mind is babbling about. I remember the first time I interacted with other children, naturally becoming the bossy leader of our group, just like young Sophia in front of me. I'm getting nostalgic looking down at her, so full of joy and hopefulness, I envy the beauty of her ignorance. I remember my first friend, Gavin, and all the fun times we had in kindergarten. I always used to make him do things first so I knew they were safe or how to do it since I was always too stubborn to admit I didn't know what was happening. Looking to my cousin I adore I hope she cherishes the feeling of running around and those early days of learning because they certainly don't last forever.