The nostalgia is real right now, but I remember when it was really popular (that’s not my joke). Really, though, the past looks especially nice from here. All sepia tones with a filter that would put every photo-editing app to shame. A lot of people think about the past and say enlightening things about the past and the future and how they mix together to form the present. The concept of time, in my opinion, is especially susceptible to being applied to metaphors, mostly because it doesn’t make sense. So here is a list of some CRAZY metaphors about the past, or whatever it is:

1. Life is a fence, and you are balancing on top of it. On one side is the past, lush fields, electric thunderstorms, and all the people you have ever met. The other side is misty and populated with hopes for the future. Both sides are a fantasy land. As you walk along the fence posts disappear. That walking is the present.
2. Time is a boat that is traveling down a clear river. Every moment is there and gone. The sky reflects into the water, and there are mirages in the depths of that water. Through the ripples, I can see summertime and catching slimy frogs and the way it felt to be so nervous about wearing waxy lipstick—in public, mind you.
3. Nostalgia is a gumball machine, one that takes ‘ah-ha’ moments instead of quarters. Sugary and sweet, the memories come out perfect, round, and colorful. Sometimes they look better than they taste. But we still chew on those memories, even after the flavor disappears. 'Til we simply recall enjoying them.
4. Grasping at the past is like grasping at the wind. Both are intangible but are still concrete for a fleeting moment between the fingers. It is like friending someone you used to know on Facebook, with the idea that you can prove the past connection with a click and confirmation.
5. Remembering is going through your bookshelf. There may be books, notes, figurines, or the creepy magazine cut-outs of your favorite scientists from third grade. And WOW, there is the flower crown that Jane Doe made you all those years ago. The tangible objects set off hundreds of switches that like dominoes tumble your mind down a grassy hill. The grassy hill that always got your knees stained, no matter how careful you were to be clean. That triggers the memory of licking the brownie batter out of the bowl even though it was against the rules.
6. The present is a gift. A gift that we blink away as the wrapping paper is being torn. A gift that we consider returning. A gift that is exactly what we weren’t expecting. It’s a twisting of the tongue while saying, “Thank you!” and wondering why it doesn't seem right. The present is a gift that we are suspicious of not being the right gift. An endless "maybe I would’ve been happier with something else."

But heyo, the present is where we are, the past is what happened and is at our disposal, and the future is still being produced right this second. Why, by Jove, I’ve got it: ‘The past is the past, and it’s the present that will last.’ It even rhymes. There you go, go make the memories that will later be so spectacular that they don’t need nostalgia to color them magic; they will do that on their own.