People over the age of 30, does anything in your life still hold that magic it once did?

  • Space and the universe. Watching shows like Cosmos et al. still blows my mind, and the fascination that it brings me has never tapered over the years. I hope it never does.

  • Kind of related to space, but when I was a kid I remember looking at a certain constellation each night and determining that one of the stars was my favorite star. To this day, 30 years later, i have continued to look at that star each night (at least on the nights it's visible), and sometimes I reminisce about the things it's "seen" me through during my life, both good and bad.....and then I realize that someone thousands of years ago very likely looked at the same star, and how much it has "seen" humankind through. And no matter what, it's still there each night.

  • The idea of the future and what it may hold.

  • When I was about 20, I was reading an article in Esquire called "What I've Learned." The gist is that each month they talked to celebrities/successful businessmen/etc and asked them to share some of the things they've learned over their life. I forget who it was, but someone said that their one regret in life was that they never kept a journal. I thought pretty hard about that and a few days later I started keeping a journal. I didn't really know what I was doing at first, but I figured I couldn't really do it "wrong" since I was the only person who would be reading it in the future. For awhile I was writing in it every day, then I started tapering off a bit and only writing when big events in my life happened. I am so glad that I started it. Sometimes I go back now and I read it and reading what I wrote takes me back to when whatever I was writing about was happening and all the emotions involved with it. I'm thumbing through it right now, it really helps to reminisce, whether the memories it brings back are good and bad. I think back to the things that I was worried about when I wrote in it, and I remember how I solved those problems afterward. A few choice passages: (dates redacted for anonymity)

*--Today I met the girl I'm going to marry.

--Going to propose to [girlfriends' name] tomorrow. I'll have either good or bad news to report tomorrow, I suppose.

--She said yes!

--[Wife] is pregnant.

--[Daughter's name] was born yesterday. I was stuck at work. Going to get down to see her as soon as I can.

(about 2 years later)

-- Doctors don't know what's wrong with [daughter's name.] Running all kinds of tests. I'd give anything for this to all come out OK. Please. I really hope I look at this ten years from now and know that the fear I feel right now turned out to be unfounded.

(a few months later)

--[Daughter's name] died today. I can't write anything else. I can't do anything else. I can't breathe.

(Last July)

--[Wife's name] told me today that she hasn't loved me since [daughter] died and that she's leaving. I'm in shock.

(a few weeks later)

-- [Wife] left today. I watched her drive off. When she was gone, I walked into the house and sat on the couch and just stared at the wall. Before I knew it, an hour had passed. I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house. I have to go to bed now. I have a morning shift tomorrow.*

It's the story of my life unfolding, and reading it is a lot different than simply remembering it.

/r/AskReddit Thread