I recall having experienced more joyous and wondrous experiences in my youth than I have in recent memory. My recollection may possibly be tinted by nostalgia, but I truly did experience those moments. There was a sense of newness and the promise of endless possibilities. Each of those memories are cherished whenever I recall them, because in retrospect the outcome has far outstripped what I possibly could have imagined. Having said all that, I don’t ever have the urge to re-create those moments like the addict who tries to capture that same high he felt the first time he tried a narcotic. The second and all subsequent experience will always pale in comparison to the first. If I attempted to re-create that exact experienced again it would feel contrived to me. Knowing that makes my cherished memories all the more precious, and I value every new experience more than I did in my youth. The newness of life may be fading, but I have every one of them captured in me and I’m grateful for it every day I’m alive.