Nostalgia, it’s a word we all know by vocabulary but I’m sure not by definition. 

Nostalgia can be different for everyone, what it means to me can be different than what it means to you. By definition, Nostalgia is a “sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” 

Nostalgia is important, everyone should do a little reminiscing on something important. The world can be a better place when you’re feeling sentimental. There can be bigger topics that trigger nostalgia or smaller more specific triggers. Holidays more often become bigger triggers of memories and reminiscence. When you think of holidays that are tied to a direct memory most people will not think of Valentine’s day, you’ll think of Christmas or July 4th. 

Valentine’s day is actually a major nostalgic holiday for many. During the month of February, the stores begin to put out the pink and red, they arrive with boxes of chocolates with designs on them or valentine’s day cards as well. During this time many elementary school students will buy sets of cards and candy to hand out to their classes and friends. 

These little incentive parties thrown in elementary school can become nostalgic for the students once they get older. The trigger would become those little childish cards that were handed out to the classes or certain candies such as FunDip or little Dum Dum suckers. 

This Valentine’s Day I finally got my wave of nostalgia from our elementary school parties. I was walking through Walmart the Valentine’s section, my class was throwing an elementary school-style valentines party with the little cards. I had not yet understood the nostalgia that this would hold for me, that was until I had come across the packs of cards you hand out. 

My eyes landed on a box of Carebear-designed cards, this is when I got this reminiscent feeling. As a kid I carried around a little blue carebear everywhere I went, this was a memory that was pushed far back in my mind because I had lost the bear years prior. 

I got home to open the cards so I could start signing them and deciding who got which design I liked a little more than others. This is where Valentine’s day becomes tied to nostalgia. As a kid, everyone would buy cards for these incentives but every kid also would pick the card design they liked best and then give those to their friends, the cards the kid did not like as much would go to the kids we were not friends with.

 This little party for a high school class also became a moment in time to take a break and reminisce.