My trusty Concise Oxford Dictionary defines nostalgia as a ‘sentimental yearning for the past’.  For some reason, the beginning of summer puts me in a nostalgic mood.  This summer is no different, it is just that I noticed my nostalgia and recognized that it has a familiar annual pattern.

When I was nine, at the end of the school year, my family moved to the Niagara River Parkway.  At that point in my life, we had moved a few times.  All of our previous locations had been small bungalows in middle class suburbs.  This time was different.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The river, and that stretch of road remain one of my favourite places on the planet. 

There really is no cure for nostalgia.  If I return for a visit to the Niagara region, and the river in particular, well, it is not a visit to the past, is it?  If anything, the changes I see in the area bring on feelings of chagrin.  How dare ‘they’ tear down charming little cottages and erect monstrous three car garage windowless ‘mansions’?  Etc.  Believe it or not, I try not to judge.

Recognizing my nostalgia got me thinking about the present.  The antidote to nostalgia is not to visit the past, or places from the past, but to embrace your present circumstances and be grateful.  (Grateful, yes, — perhaps hokey and currently overused, but so true). 

Turns out the best cure for feeling nostalgic is to toast the present. 

Here’s to the present!  Cheers!

Thank you for reading, your comments, questions, ideas and suggestions are always welcome.  You can comment here, or choose between Facebook, Twitter, or the contact button.  

Please note, no post next week while we all take a break for Canada Day.

Anne Milne is an every Sunday blogger.  I keep it short and to the point.  Topics are as wide ranging as a straight but not narrow path.