Ichi-go Ichi-e (one time, one meeting)
I stumbled across this beautiful and brilliant Japanese idiom recently and I deeply understand this feeling. No matter how much you struggle to recreate the past, it'll never be the same. Even with the same people, in the same place.
Ichi-go ichi-e (一期一会, lit. "one time, one meeting") is a Japanese four-character idiom (yojijukugo) that describes a cultural concept of treasuring the unrepeatable nature of a moment. The term has been translated as "for this time only", and "once in a lifetime". The term reminds people to cherish any gathering that they may take part in, citing the fact that any moment in life cannot be repeated; even when the same group of people get together in the same place again, a particular gathering will never be replicated, and thus each moment is always a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The concept is most commonly associated with Japanese tea ceremonies, especially tea masters Sen no Rikyū and Ii Naosuke. from Wikipedia
I guess the kids would say YOLO or something.