Do you wish you could return to a moment in your past?

    It has been nine years since I moved to Champaign from China and six years since I last visited. Over this period, I’ve discovered so much about my family and my hometown of Chengdu that I couldn’t appreciate when I was younger. So now, amid college applications and senior year stress, I would love nothing more in the world than to return to when I was seven and still going to elementary school in China. I feel like I’ve always taken my hometown for granted. Because I didn’t live directly downtown of the city, I’ve always thought of Chengdu, Sichuan, as a mildly large city that isn’t anything special. Only recently, probably less than a year ago, did I find out that, first, Chengdu is massive; it is the fifth most populated city in China, with a population of about 15 million people. Chengdu also has incredible historical significance, as it was once the capital of the Shu Kingdom (one of the famous “Three Kingdoms”). Thus, the city has incredible historical sites and is filled with unique attractions, like the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and massive museums, but the one I want to experience the most again…is the food. Sichuan food is world-famous for its strong flavors and intense spice, but I didn’t learn to eat spicy foods until I came to the US. So, I have never had traditional Sichuan cuisine. I was recently educated by my mom, who is the closest thing to an authentic Sichuan chef that I know of, that some of the most famous foods in American Chinese restaurants, like Kung Pao Chicken and Mapo tofu, actually came from Chengdu, which completely blew my mind. If I could turn back time, I would feast upon these spicy foods every single until my tongue burns off. I would also like to go back in time for the people. For almost a decade, I’ve lived on a whole other continent away from all my family and friends besides my mom, which, honestly, I did not prepare for when I first came here, thinking I would only be gone for a year. Obviously, the person I miss most, and the first one I want to see is my dad. Even though he speaks to my mom and me almost every week through Facetime, it just isn’t the same as in person, as I can’t feel his touch, get poked by his beard stubble, and smell the faint scent of cigarettes. I also want to see my extended family members, like my grandparents on both sides, whom I spent a lot of time with as a kid, going to their houses on the outskirts of Chengdu every weekend. For the people talked about above, I can go back to China right now, and I can connect with them. But I feel I’ve pretty much lost all of my friends in China forever, not from any disagreements, but because we just all grew up and apart in completely different environments. I had many school friends in China, but the two that hold a special place in my heart are my next-door neighbor and upstairs neighbor, who were four years older and two years older than me. We spent so much time doing everything together that it almost felt like a brotherhood, and we created some memories that I’ll never forget, like when we watched Shaolin soccer together and laughed until our stomachs started hurting or when one of them tried to teach me how to swim by drowning me. Now, nine years later, without any communication, they are in college, away from Chengdu, and I’m still in the US, so even if we meet again, I highly doubt we’ll ever be as close as we once were. So, I would love to go back in time to hang out with them a little longer.