Why Do People Talk About The Past?

I was waiting to play pickleball one Saturday morning, and got to talking to my friend Carol.  She knows I have a 90+ year old mother, and asked me if my mother talked a lot about the past.  I was startled by the question, having never considered it before, but I came back quickly and told her "No,"  my mother talks about the present or the near future.  I was surprised by the question, but it got me thinking.  I have known people  who talk almost exclusively about the past.  Why do they do that?

I believe they remember times past as the good old days.  Business or work was great, marriage was good, everything was great.  Perhaps they have been effected by a poor economy and finances are tough, or they may be resistant to change, and not have moved forward with technology and cultural changes.  They want things the way they used to be.  We used to have a friend who talked about nothing but years ago, when he lived in New York.  The theatre was better, the food was better, his job was better.  Finally I asked him why he didn't go back to New York.  He wanted things in California to be just like New York, with good weather.

I told Carol that my mom talks mostly about the present, what she is doing now.  She does mention the future, but the near future.  She doesn't speculate on what her great grandchildren will be doing in 15 years, or what this country will be like then either.  She lives in the present.

I, too live in the moment.  I have learned this through 71 years of experience.  All we have is right now.  There may not be a tomorrow.  Ron and I  have faced some difficult challenges through our 46 year marriage, and taking one day at a time has helped us.  Now, with Ron dealing with a difficult illness, living in the present is even more tomorrow.  We are doing just that.  It's fun to reminisce about the past, as we do when we get together with some of Ron's childhood friends.  That's a lot of fun, but then it's time to come back to today, and enjoy what we have right now.