Today is Children’s Day in Brazil. I wasn’t thinking about writing about it. Usually, I don’t pay attention to this kind of special day. If I want to be honest, I don’t have any tradition in celebrating holidays. Not Children’s Day, not Christmas or any other. It is nice to feel free to be nostalgic sometimes.

I felt connected with my younger self

But today, my dad sent me a picture of myself as a kid with the dolls I never named, and I looked at it with so much love. I felt connected with my eighth years’ old version. It was a special moment. My wife did the same yesterday. She saw a picture from when she was 7 or 8 years old and looked at it as if she could come back in time and hug that little girl. Or maybe that was me.

I wish I could come back in time and hug myself as a kid, listen to myself reading fantasy books out loud, and carry myself asleep into bed and kiss me goodnight. I wish I could create some traditions to celebrate Christmas, believe in Santa Claus, and hide Easter eggs for my young version to have fun like the other kids. I wish I were able to give myself a more magical childhood.

Children’s Day is a social approval for nostalgia

I opened my Instagram app today and saw a lot of little girls and boys. Maybe everyone is looking at their pictures today and thinking they wish to hug their younger version. Perhaps everyone wishes they felt innocent, unique, and safe again. Maybe celebrating Children’s Day is a social approval for nostalgia.

Today was the first time I published a child’s picture of myself on this date. It felt good to feel like everyone else. It felt good to think that I belong as myself in this space and time.

Since I can remember, my favorite celebration day has been New Year’s Eve. I guess I always wanted to start over and fresh. I wanted new opportunities to do things right. As if everything would change with midnight promises.

Holidays have this magical sensation of belonging

Holidays have this magical sensation of belonging. The same thoughts unite (almost) everyone you know. For a moment, everyone is grateful, happy, and hopeful for a better future. Life is what happens between significant events, but perhaps holidays exist to ground us to the present, on a day where we are united to celebrate the past.