"Nostalgia"

       I was reminded today that the word "nostalgia" is at least half "pain"; that's the "algia" part of it.  It can be sentimental longing for what's past, and therefore approaching the maudlin, but it needn't be.

       Anticipating a final chance to study ancient Jewish texts with our senior rabbi who is retiring to live in Israel, I recalled the numerous classes we had together poring over texts for what they could teach us at present, with liveliness and humor and open discussion...for the last approximately twenty years.  There was a joy in learning and in the sharing.  The pain came in suddenly foreseeing the absence.

         Nostos, Greek, means "returning home."  The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it all best and most succinctly: "acute longing for [the] familiar..."  That "acute" carries the pain.