The Power of Nostalgia
It’s amazing when the emotions of past recollections flood your memory banks. It’s almost like going back in time and seeing you relive important moments in your life. For me, most of those moments are incredibly happy and positive. I know that others may have similar connections to more troubling moments of concern, fear, scarcity, and negativity. But in the end, that emotional nostalgia can hit you hard.
For me, it happened last Saturday. Over the past five or seven years, I have diminished my attendance at Nebraska football games. In part, because of the pandemic. In part because my professional life has grown a little bit more complicated. In part, because my kids are/were young and I didn’t want to be away from them that long. In part, because my wife (the saint) isn’t much of a football fan. In part, my parents have gotten older and don’t attend as many games. But earlier in my life, for 40+ years, I RARELY missed a Saturday home game and attended many of the away football games.
Saturday, I went back to my first game in a number of years—to the “Old Grey Lady” in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln Nebraska. I walked into that stadium with my wife and my two kids and was hit head-on by these nostalgic emotional memories. These are some of my fondest recollections of my childhood and they happened in that stadium. Not just for the football but sitting with my grandparents, both sides, during games and going with my parents, that 40 miles from our house in Omaha to Lincoln each fall Saturday afternoon. The smell of the hotdogs and pizza brought back memories of sitting with my sisters watching “Our Dear Old Nebraska U” play on the field and hearing it from the band across the way. It was like an old friend that has come back into my life. Almost like a peaceful transcendental moment of recollections.
It’s important to enjoy these positive moments of one’s history. Especially if they’re positive. To remember the great graces in one’s life and be appreciative of them. I also realize there may be responsibility for providing these opportunities for making memories for my children. I’m not sure if football will be their thing but finding out what it is and what they can hold onto as important historical, familial, happy, emotional moments is a responsibility that I should always keep in mind as a father.
