I’M SURE that everyone must have had, at one time or another, felt a slightly-nostalgic feeling of longing to return to a particular place in the past which sadly does not exist anymore.
It might interest one to know that there’s a specific word to describe such special senti feel. It is what is called “Hiraeth”, a Welsh word that generally means a longing or desire for a home, a time, place, era, or person from the past.
As all nostalgic feelings go, it denotes, or just may hint at, an effort to escape from the present, even for a brief moment. As such, Hiraeths may be what daydreams are made of then. Or maybe for the less sentimental, a less sizable amount of them at least.
However, in my case they extend further to some dreams even. I may have already forgotten a lot of things now, but I still pride myself in thinking that I could still describe, in detail, the setup of our old house in Ponciano Reyes street, and the room where I was born. The old floorboards that creaked and slanted down a bit as one neared the wooden balcony, had been one my favorite haunts, as toy soldiers and all sorts of bric-a-brac littered and surrounded me.
Since the time we transferred briefly to an apartment along Mabini, until finally to our house in Bajada, I have always dreamt of the Ponciano house. In my dreams, the setting would always involve a walkabout of sorts, going from room to room and as I recall, always marveling at whatever new things transpired usually during dream states. Also,my dreams are always in summer time. And it is almost summer now. Any Freud analysts out there?
In our present residence situated at a much higher elevation from the city proper, I have never really complained about the heat, especially whenever we prepared for bed at night time. As a matter of fact, with the Siberian winds of January and the tropical depressions left and right in february, it has been really cold in our nest.
However last night, I noticed that we already had two electric fans on at the same time, and when made known of this, my matey and partner had said, what do you expect, it’s summer already. Ach so.
Two summers of COVID already, I thought. Does it even merit a review? I know some are already bursting at the seams despite the prices of fish and meat steadily flying up to the heavens. On the other hand, some maintain their physique in order to keep their wits together. They are the ones who religiously pose on social media, posting minute measurements and details of their diminishing waistlines and golden six-packs.
But who’s complaining? Two summers baby! That’s better than griping and whining, is it not?
We’ve no other to run, even in a relaxed quarantine, except maybe in the open road, social-distanced and safe from the rest. Some have even done yoga, which is a good deal. Just stay healthy. I’ll just keep my supply of Hiraeth stocked for the moment because as a new friend had said, that old home of the past is always… Where the heart is full and the soul is understood.
