Nostalgia

What a tragically sweet word “nostalgia” is. It has Greek origins and is composed of two elements: νόστος (nóstos): “return, journey back” and ἄλγος (álgos): “pain, suffering.” The term was born when a doctor coined it to describe the pain of soldiers far from home. For them, every day was an eternity, and the longing for return turned into suffering. And the Greek word has a charming sister in the East, in poetic Japanese. Here, “nostalgia” is translated with wonderful simplicity: ichijitsu sanshū, “one day, three autumns” … the time that stretches when the heart waits.

But nostalgia is not just a lack. It is also proof that what we have lived has left a deep mark within us, something that has changed us. In the wait to reunite, there is silent growth; in memory, the still-warm embers of love experienced are preserved. And perhaps, precisely in the distance, the sense of unity that binds us indissolubly to one another becomes stronger.

There is no medicine that cures nostalgia, no caress that can hide or dissolve it.
It is like a delicate perfume that, for an instant, reminds you that loving and being loved is the only thing that truly matters.

A nostalgic embrace