There are moments and places in our lives that we claim to "remember as if it were yesterday". A first kiss; a last dinner with college roommates; and yes, even an idyllic waterfall in the middle of the desert. These things sear themselves into our memory, and there they will by their very nature remain. The next romantic encounter will be some ordinal number greater than one, the next meal with those same people will be with acquaintances as opposed to housemates, and the waterfall itself will have eroded a few inches (or in some cases, been completely transformed by floods in the intervening years). There's never a way to go back to the way things were the first time, and it often produces in us a feeling of nostalgia, even while the moments happen...

See more