Memories of perfection

Just now I was watching a youtube video about two chefs going around a Taipei night market. Seeing them walk around the food stalls triggered something and it hit me like a brick. Suddenly I missed Taiwan in a way I hadn't since I came back. The memory of walking around Taipei, of night markets were now so alive and raw in my mind.

The thing is if a deity offered me a chance to go back even in that moment, I wouldn't. When I was actually there it was great but it wasn't this beautiful, perfect time in my head. I was just living. Now looking back the memory is better than it was.

In this way it's better than going back, because these piercing, living memories will always remain perfect in my head. When years pass and something reminds me of Taiwan and I feel this overwhelming ache of nostalgia, I will feel those two weeks as if I was there, if only for just for a second. I will see and walk on a hot night in Ningxia Night Market with my friends again. It was perfect, even if it wasn't and I wouldn't want anything to change that.