i think one of the saddest things about life is that we rarely realize we're living through a memory while it's happening.
there are moments that seem completely ordinary at the time.
a conversation on a random afternoon.
someone laughing at something that wasn't even that funny.
and yet years later, those are the moments that come back.
the things you never thought to treasure because you assumed there would be more of them.
sometimes i wonder how many "last times" we experience without knowing it.
the last conversation with someone.
the last time a group of friends are all together.
the last ordinary day before everything changes.
and maybe that's why memories hurt.
but because they remind us that something beautiful existed.
something so beautiful that even years later, a small reminder can bring it rushing back.
and suddenly you're standing in the middle of a moment that no longer exists.
sometimes i think that's what nostalgia really is.
love for a version of yourself.
love for people who became strangers.
love for moments that can never happen exactly the same way again.
we spend so much of our lives wanting the future that we forget one day we'll miss the present too.
so if you're reading this tonight, maybe send that message.
maybe tell someone you appreciate them.
maybe stay a little longer in the moment you're living.
because one day it might become one of the memories you keep returning to.
and if it does, i hope it makes you smile before it makes you cry.