It's funny how your brain's memory works. Things that you haven't thought of in decades can suddenly come back and fill you with feelings that were, at one time, something more familiar.
I experienced this the other day while going for a walk. My girlfriend and I were walking past a school where little league baseball games are almost constantly being played. I never really pay much attention to it, but for some reason the sounds of the games really grabbed me for a moment.
Ping! An aluminum bat made contact with a baseball. The small crowd of friends and family went from talking to enthusiastic yelling. A few yelps from people with loader voices, chirps of encouragement, and then all became quiet again as the play came to a close.
I didn't see what had actually happened during that moment of excitement and I couldn't make out the names people were directing their cheers at, or even what they were actually saying for encouragement. But the general feeling, the pitch and tone of it all, really brought me back to my youth when, for a few years, it was somewhat normal for me to have to go to baseball practice and wake up early to go to games on the weekends.
I've never been much of an athlete, so I didn't always like having to do those things, but I still remember it being fun, in a simple sort of way. I suspect that might just be the rose-colored glasses of lots and lots of time having passed that has made me forget the things I didn't much like, but maybe it's better that I remember it just for the good parts.
Anyway, it's funny how easy it is to go back to those thoughts, even after just about 20 years of never once having thought about it. Transported through back in time by the sound of an aluminum bat!