"A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places." -Isabelle Eberhardt
"A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places." -Isabelle Eberhardt
A Case of the Februarys rolls into Spring Nostalgia
Aimee Geurts • Mar 23, 2022

The other day, in the car on the way to sushi happy hour, Roxy says how spring used to always make her feel so nostalgic for Colorado. I was shocked to hear this as this is something I go through every year and had no idea other people felt the same way, much less my own mother. She said she doesn't feel that way this year, not towards Colorado anyway. This year her yearning is for Minnesota.


My spring nostalgia is for very specific places. The back deck of the house in Hazen, ND that I grew up in and my grandma's deck in Conifer, Colorado. The cool spring mornings, the sunshine and the sound of the birds all bring me right back there. I imagine eventually I will add my mom's deck to that list, her deck on the house I am living in with her right now. I think this spring, I also feel it for the dock on the lake we stay in Minnesota.


A quick google search tells me we are not alone in this. I easily find a handful of blog posts of other folks who feel this way as well. For me, it's hard to mix this with my case of the Februarys. I want to only be excited about spring. For me, nostalgia is a bit sad. It's a longing that can't be filled. So I sit with it. And look forward to the mornings soon to be spent on my mom's deck.


And of course recognizing this is a thing I go through, I want to read my way through it. Books added to my list:

On Nostalgia by David Berry

The Future of Nostalgia by Svetlana Boym

The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap by Stephanie Coontz


And here's a whole list of books to read when feeling Nostalgic! I love me a great reading list: Books for When You're Feeling Nostalgic and Dreamy

The Life and Times of the Tiny Dictator

By Aimee Geurts • 07 Feb, 2023
An Ode to Midge

The Spines of Books

By Aimee Geurts • 29 Jan, 2023
A poem

What if the next adventure is to indulge in no adventure at all?

By Aimee Geurts • 20 Jan, 2023
In Great Circle Jaime says, “The compromise is that I’m living day to day without making any sweeping decisions.” I realize I have fallen into this way of thinking. Whispering to myself, everything is fine today. Although I do still enjoy imagining other lives, get caught up in the swell of possibility, for the first time in a long time I feel settled.  Jamie’s sister Marian says, “Is that compromise? It sounds a bit like procrastination. You don’t think you’ll go back to being how you were before, do you?” I know I won’t go back to being how I was before. I know that today. I’m not sure what I’ll know tomorrow. Reading articles about women realizing they are tired of working the corporate ladder and feel vindicated in my low-paying jobs with no benefits. When the farmer in Spain doesn’t reply to my emails about a room and board work agreement, when the Airbnb host in Greece offers me his camper van instead of his home, I decide it’s all too much and I give up. I’m not upset about it. I’m relieved. Instead, I make easy plans to see the Redwood Forest, right here in the good ol’ U. S. of A. I plan to stop in Medicine Bow, WY on my way from Denver to Bismarck next time I’m there. My next adventure is right around the corner instead of a nine-hour flight away. I make plans to make less plans. I stop looking for more jobs. The low-paying jobs I have now are quite fulfilling and they pay me enough to cover my health insurance and put a little aside. What they give me is time. Time to have lunch with my sister-in-law on her birthday. Time to take a 4-day weekend to see my new niece. Time to take a walk downtown on a Wednesday and bring Roxy a sandwich while she slings books at the low-paying bookstore where I no longer work. Time to read all the books in my house. Time to volunteer in the middle of the day. Call it compromise. Call it procrastination. I call it feeling settled.
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