Reminisce

Reminiscing takes you back to a time when things were black and white. They were simple. You were simple.

And you realize you've turned older, more cynical. You realize your friends from the past are the best you ever made, the ones you meet now are merely activity partners and cringe when you have to call them friends. Your best ever vacation, humourous situation and drinking night are all in the past. The ones you have now are embellishments that you add onto your list, but they don't ever seem to reach the top. 

Time passes by. And you've traveled the world, live in the greatest city on Earth and have a car and a house 99% of people can't afford. And you wonder if you were happy when you got any of it. You realize that perhaps you were happier when you had nothing more than the person next to you. Where you could slip up and it would be fine because the limelight wasn't on you 24/7, demanding a picture perfect story. And where you could shout profanities at your friends and sing ridiculous songs into the night, without having to explain why you remember those words. 

You find yourself living in the past, reminiscing those beautiful memories. You want a time machine that can take you back to 2008. When you would lie around on the grass with a back-lit building and drink a bottle of cheap Vodka with Sprite and puff away at way too many cigarettes with the boys. And talk about how you envision life to take you to places you only dreamed of. And how you will travel the world, find love and buy a house, a car. 

Where you could meet someone and propose to them during lunch without ever giving it a second thought. Because just the thought of them made you feel happy. And you didn't need to think what business school they went to or how dysfunctional their families were or how they were rated in their appraisals. All you cared about was today. And tomorrow was for someone else to worry about. The battles you fought were all against the world and not in your mind.

Snap back to reality. Because you know you have friends you adore on the other side of the globe whom you will meet soon and things will be the same however long you've been away. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. And you realize you're living the dream. Something everyone wanted for you as much as you did for yourself. You live a block away from Times Square and drive a Chevy Malibu across the George Washington everyday. And that's something nobody can take away from you till the day you die.

And love comes in different shapes and sizes than it did 5 years ago. Maybe it's not 5'5 and a model anymore but it's more sensible and grounded. Whose life is not all about parties and social gatherings but about doing something meaningful. And random women whom you meet over a cigarette end up telling you how you're exactly what they want in a guy, and you tell them how there aren't many of you that come thru the assembly line these days.

And you realize there's not a doubt in your mind about your fundamentals. You're the patriot that you always were and love everything about your country and want to go back as soon and often as you can. You love breaking stereotypes and showing everyone how you're here because nobody in this country or continent could do what you're doing.

There's so much more to see and feel that it tires you just thinking about it. And these words I write will help me reminisce these amazing days years from now like the ones I wrote in the past do today. And remind me that today is as good a day as any ever was in the past...