Is nostalgia always such a bad thing?

I've always tended to think that nostalgia is for idiots, and although I still have a real aversion to it, this year, as the days get shorter and we brace for the long, dark winter ahead, I find myself going through my old negatives and lingering on images that move me a little in that direction. 

Is this the first sign of some age-related mental decay, or is it something more benign, like simply wanting to think that things ultimately will get back to normal? I have a feeling it is the latter, which is kind of okay, I think. That being said, when I was younger, I probably would have burned the nostalgia-provoking negatives just to be on the safe side. So maybe there is a kind of decay going on after all. 

Here is an old negative that somehow survived the purges, but that nevertheless has been transformed by the passage of time. It has an airy, almost infrared look to it that is strange and unlike anything I have seen before in my negatives. Blame it on the fixer... It took some effort to get the image to a presentable state.

I don't remember exactly where I was when I took this photograph, the Hill Country of Texas probably, but what I do remember is framing up carefully so that none of the road sign would be cut off.