I believe one of the greatest gifts we’ve been given is the ability to create memories. To store our life’s movies in a place in our minds that we have access to at any moment. I had written a while ago about how I love taking trips down memory lane. It’s one of my favorite things to do.

My senses allow me to travel back in time to a moment that was significant in one way or another. There are some memories that are clearer than others but the feeling is potent in every single one. A sound, a smell, a touch, a taste or a sight, it blankets you with the pieces of what once was.

I had traveled to New Bedford many times to visit family my whole life. I hadn’t gone back to certain places that meant so much to me at such a young age though. Having gone back to my schools where it all began was such a wonderful experience.

I began to reminisce about the time I went to school with my mom while she studied English. And the rock wall we used to climb whenever we got ice cream with my cousins. I remembered my Kindergarten classroom that had now become the new art room and how it was in that very same classroom that I developed “my type” in men 😉 (No, I did not believe in cooties)

I got to see the faces of those working at HeadStart and Friends Academy light up when I told them I was a former student 19 years ago. Things have changed over the course of 2 decades but each place still has remnants of the past; The layout, the colors, the atmosphere.

I think everyone should revisit a past they hold dear to their heart if they ever get an opportunity. There’s nothing like going back to a time you know you can never really return to… but at least you’ll have the memories to keep forever.