heatherbeck

Misplaced Nostalgia (The Nostalgia Chronicles)

Added 2023-10-12 20:31:49 +0000 UTC

Before diving into… What did Don Draper call it? The “pain from an old wound?” (Though I’m sure the Greek Classicists among you will disagree with the etymology.), I wanted to address one of the more sparse but peculiar forms of nostalgia: The longing for a place you’ve never been; for an item you’ve never owned; for an experience you’ve never had.

I guess we’ve all felt something like that. It’s not the best example I can conjure, but it makes sense, for me. I’m from the US, spent most of my time in the eastern part of it. But the older I get, the more I find myself pinning, very oddly, for Chicago.

Why. Maybe it’s the birthplace of all the presently improper comedy from the ‘90s (for which I’ve always had an affinity). Maybe it’s the cold, that chaps the cheeks, and gives a certain ruggedness to the earned smiles. The audacity to dye your River green on St. Pat’s, the shitty (but well supported) sports teams (fair-weather fans, be damned), the buildings, the pass-thru nature, the Second City nature.

Though I will always take a dump on the pizza. Before sitting down to eat a whole deep dish… it’s a convenient thing, to have a pizza you can literally drown yourself in.

Still, I’ve never been there. I feel like I have, but not yet.

So, that’s where this misplaced nostalgia stops.

Though maybe not nostalgia, at all. Maybe when you feel slightly regretful about an experience you haven’t had, yet, maybe that’s just another word for… getting good and ready to sit down and make plans.

Seems like a hell of a town.