I found this on the 'net
I was 10 and my favorite horse was a roan gelding named Lefty. I got to ride every Saturday morning. While all the other kids were sprawled in their living rooms still in their footed jammies, spilling cornflakes on the rug in front of the cartoons, I was on a magical ride to new adventures.
Summertime; the best time. Every day but Saturday I could sleep late and drift into consciousness savoring first the smell. Summer smelled wonderful, it smelled of promise, of sun-soaked landscape, creeks meandering through forbidden forests, and sweet liberty. The next sense that quickens is sound. The birds and crickets and their symphony of sunrise; no one but the birds understood how wonderful the summer was. Then of course the parental noises abound; “Get up!” “Breakfast”, and similar annoyances could be heard….
OH, NO, is it Saturday? a quick thrill of fear shot through me, as I forced my non-school seasoned brain to remember the day. Relieved, I’d schooch back in the lavish bedding to enjoy a few more stolen moments of leisure.
On Saturdays it was different. I’d fly out of bed, wiggled into my favorite jeans, boots and flannel shirt. “C’mon, mom it’s getting late.” I’d yell if she wasn’t waiting for me; car keys in hand. The drive to the Stables was short as it was ‘on base’ like our housing development. By 10AM all the riders were assembled and off we’d go. The guide rode so slowly as he wended his way in front of us. We all knew each other and monitored ourselves, “Hurry up Jimmy, Betty, you’ll get left behind’” we’d yell as we looked back to make sure all of us were following properly.
Just past the heavily wooded area the sun poured its golden beams through the stirrup-high underbrush in the clearing, the path wound round an old brick wall and AH, yes; the heavy honeysuckle vines washed me with their scent, the hot sun smell, the horse, the tiniest whiff of the swamp, evocative of mosquitoes a mile away. Nostalgia! Ain’t life grand. I still catch that combination every once in a while, and back I am in Kentucky, I’m 10 years old, Summer is going to last forever, and I’m never going to get old!
here is the official definition
nos·tal·gi·a (n-stlj, n-)
n.
1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.
2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.
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[Greek nostos, a return home; see nes-1 in Indo-European roots + -algia.]
nos·talgic (-jk) adj.
nos·talgi·cal·ly adv.
nos·talgist n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words AntonymsNoun 1. nostalgia - longing for something past
longing, yearning - prolonged unfulfilled desire or need
homesickness - a longing to return home
mark sick-with-longing Bailey
