Have you ever gotten that
Have you ever gotten that feeling that's triggered by your senses (the way the air smells, a song on the radio) that throws you back into something you've experienced before? I'm not talking about deja vu... this is more like being there again, only not. A snapshot of your past. This morning when I walked out of my apartment, I was in Florida. I'm not talking about memories. God knows I have hundreds of those engraved in my mind and my heart (and scrapbook <.g>), but those are of specific events. "This one time when..."-type of stuff. This was throwing me back in time to something I'd done a hundred times, but to no one time in particular.
From the color of the trees to the seas of crunchy leaves decorating the sidewalks, it's apparent that we are smack dab in the middle of a full-fledged autumn. But today when I walked outside, it was February, maybe March. And I wasn't crossing Busey and walking down Green Street, but rather I was strolling up the long sidewalk past the back of the Lion King show on my right, Pride Rock on my left, and Cast Services just beyond. I was making the 10-minute trek from the cast parking lot to the Outdoor Foods Base backstage of Disney's Animal Kingdom. The temperature of the air was in the low 60's (somewhat atypical for an Illinois November but just about normal for a spring Florida morning) and there was the gentlest of breezes trying to keep my hair from staying tucked behind my ears. It smelled like Florida. The sky was blue and the air was fresh and clean. It's days like this morning that make me want to pick up tomorrow and move back to Orlando. This is what I was talking about a "snapshot." Just a glimpse of something I did every single morning. It only happens with that kind of normal, everyday stuff. A flash. Of course I have memories, which are longer, more detailed recollections of specific events, but it's those snapshots that get me. The "I could be doing this right now" thoughts that make me long for that time a year and a half ago.
Perhaps it's because I'm reading The Celebration Chronicles for one of my classes, but I have been wanting, needing, to go back to Florida lately. I've had dreams about being there. I've had tons of these little "snapshot" experiences. I'll be driving down Lincoln and all of a sudden I'm transported to Osceola Parkway. I'll be strolling on the Quad and all of a sudden I'm walking by the Clubhouse at Vista Way. Why do my senses and my memory conspire against me to cause me to miss being in the Sunshine State soooo much?