My upcoming novel, The Ambition, begins with Giuseppe, patriarch of the Cippione family, reminiscing about his life back in Italy. Now retired, he’d emigrated from Calabria at nineteen and made Canada his home for over forty years.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary states, “Reminisce implies a casual often nostalgic recalling of experiences long past and gone.” Other synonyms include recall, recollect, flashback, and remember. We all reminisce at some time in our lives.

In an article posted in Psychology Today, Dr. Valentina Stoycheva, a psychologist, writes: “Nostalgia is usually a yearning for our past selves, not just for a time and place. We crave to feel the positive emotions that we felt, to connect to the version of ourselves we were at the time we are reminiscing about.”

Sometimes, items like movies, songs, and collections help as transitional objects of nostalgia that connect us with our former selves and emotional states that we yearn for. They also help calm us and control negative emotions we may be experiencing, like sadness, loneliness, and fear. John, the protagonist in the novel, and other characters also reminisce about their past as they look forward to the future.

I was speaking to an orthopedic technician recently, who told me he was from Potenza, a town just before the boot of Italy. As I looked into his reminiscing eyes, he proudly said that his country has been the number one tourist destination for many years. I checked, and Italy seems to rank fourth or fifth.

A few years ago, I visited Italy, and I readily admit it is a fascinating country. Although I did not feast my eyes upon the blue-green hills of Calabria that Giuseppe longed for, I had the pleasure of travelling off the beaten tourist path up into the mountains to Sorrento. There, I gawked at the large lemons used to make authentic Limoncello and watched a woman make mozzarella cheese before my eyes.