Nostalgia

I was on campus today . . . . DS1 was scheduled for advanced scientific testing (as DH calls it) at the Cognitive Learning Lab in the Psych department. We had taken him to the Infant Cognition Lab when he was, well, an infant . . this seemed like a logical progression. It’s always interesting to see how the kids behave and to see what they know when they aren’t being influenced my me and hubs.

Anyway, as we were driving through campus, I was pointing out different buildings and landmarks to the babes.

“I lived in that building when I first moved here.”

“You can go swimming here.”

“That’s one of the many dorms . . .they are like apartment complexes.”

As we were passing some unimportant location, I saw a whole group of people walking down the sidewalk, probably new students getting oriented to the campus. And then, it happened. I was hit with a HUGE wave of nostalgia. I remember trying to familiarize myself with the campus at about this same time twelve years ago.

*cough cough*

*sputter sputter*

Wait! Did I just say TWELVE years ago? (counts on her fingers)

Yep, I started grad school twelve years ago! Some people have made it through high school in that amount of time! That was ages ago! Anyway, the nostalgia really kicked in. I suddenly felt like a nervous and excited 20-something all over again. All of the smells from that summer came rushing back, the ridiculous experiences, the stress of meeting GOBS of new people, the shock of living in such a woefully tiny room, the thrill of getting to do music, all of the time. It’s so strange how one little moment could trigger all of that. The funny thing is, I don’t think I was ever in the part of campus that we were in today, yet, the memories all rushed back. The brain is a fascinating thing, which is probably why the Psych grad students like to do tests, play games etc with little kids, to get a tiny little insight into the brain.

It’s now been two hours since the nostalgic event, and all of the memories have disappeared, back into the vault of my brain, waiting to be released, yet again, another time.