Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. I can consume you once you see a certain person, smell a certain smell, or listen to a certain song. I know that whenever I smell green apple hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works I’m instantly transported back to middle school. And it’s not always a great feeling. Sure, it reminds me of long summers when I had nothing to do but skip rope and work on my cartwheels, but it also reminds me of drinking a Slurpee too fast and then going on the G-Force ride at the local high school’s carnival and… let’s just say things didn’t end well. 

Childhood contains multitudes. There’s stuff you can look back on and wish you still had today like your JNCO jeans or your frosted tips. And then there’s stuff you look back on and think the heavens that you don’t have anymore. Like your pubescent acne or trigonometry homework.