As my life takes on new adventures this week, I have been feeling a bit nostalgic. I have been looking back a bit as I have been moving forward.  I can excitedly share that I started a non-profit that will help serve foster youth and the group of people I am working and partnering with are awesome.   But I will dive into that at a later date. Today is about nostalgia. If for just a little bit.

In thinking about the youth I hope to serve, I started thinking about how I was many years ago. I was just talking about the book Random Family which is a non-fiction book by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc which looks at an inter-related group of individuals in the early ’90s in the South Bronx. If you are looking for a really good book to read, I highly recommend Random Family.  As I read it over eight years ago, I kept thinking of how my life could have been so different had I not had great mentors in my life, including my mother.   But I don’t really wish to dive into this subject matter either. It is just that the book discussion got me being a bit nostalgic as well.

Then I read Molly Ringwald’s recent New Yorker piece on the Breakfast Club in light of the #MeToo movement and that got me nostalgic. I have always noted that I loved Sixteen Candles but I have to agree with her that the fact that one character was traded for underwear is kind of creepy.  Although, I will admit that I did not think of it that way back then.  But I don’t really wish to dive into this subject matter either. It’s just that the article got me oddly nostalgic as well.

What I want to talk about is super simple and not too deep. I used to love Amaretto. In particular, Amaretto Sour. I would even add Amaretto to my Piña Coladas, especially during my business trips to Puerto Rico. For some reason it seemed like a great thing to do there.   We would work hard during the day and hten kick back by the beach. Not a bad gig. Of course, I will gloss over the gas station strikes and tropical storms we experienced at times. That’s the beauty of nostalgia. You sometimes overlook (for just a bit) the bad parts and just smile at the past good ones.   But back to my Amaretto.

For those of you who don’t know, Amaretto is a sweet Italian liqueur often made of almond. Yum.   It is so simple and easy to make what was one of my favorite college drinks: that being Amaretto Sour.   You just need four ingredients: sweet and sour mix, lemon-lime soda, a cherry and, of course, Amaretto.  It was my favorite drink because it is super sweet and a teeny bit sour.  Many college girls would drink a Long Island Iced Tea. But I hated that taste as it was a mixture of a ton of alcohol. My Amaretto sour was my drink before the Cosmopolitan. Then again, I never really got that much into Cosmos (ingredients being vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice). I just didn’t care all that much that Carrie (from Sex and the City) drank it all the time.   I am a Rum person versus a Vodka person. Although, this past weekend we were arguing about which one had less carbs. sadly, that would be Vodka.

But for me Amaretto Sour just reminds me of a time of being a little innocent, naive and eager to take on the world.  I am still eager to do that but I am a lot more jaded. Thus, I now am much more likely to drink a Mai Tai-yes, it is fruity and reminds one of Hawaii (a venerable Happy place) but it is filled with alcohol and carbs.  So, as I start my multiple new adventures this week (more to come later on these), I like the thought of some wide-eyed optimism. And thus, I ordered an Amaretto Sour. Here is to feeling unstoppable, fun, and a go-get them attitude.

Cheers  and may it bring a smile to your face.