Every time Molly greets me she sniffs, snuffles, and snorts about my person. Smell is her greatest sense and she’s gathering information about me, where I’ve been, who I’ve met, and what I’ve done. I enjoy watching her go through the process and I wonder what all she detects.
The human sense of smell is nowhere near as sophisticated as a dog’s but it fascinates me all the same. In my opinion, our sense of smell is fairly basic. We either like a smell or we don’t. For example, I really like the smell of coffee brewing, swimming pool chlorine, and movie theater popcorn. Not all together. I really don’t like the smell of cooked cauliflower, burnt orange peels from the Tropicana factory, and freshly cut grass. Definitely not all together!
But the one thing I find truly amazing about our sense of smell is its ability to trigger a very specific memory. How can one whiff of something – possibly something ordinary – take you back dozens of years to a single point in time?
I’ve experienced this sensation twice in the past week with two different smells/memories and it made me pause to wonder just how many smells trigger unique memories for me. I tried to come up with a list. Please no judging.
Pine Straw – I think of the year I lived in Pensacola rather than the unhappy three years I lived in North Carolina.
Dial Antibacterial Soap - I think of the three years I lived in North Carolina.
Polo Cologne - I think of high school... particularly the boys on my swim team. But Polo makes me sneeze.
Grey Flannel Cologne – I think of a date I went on with my college boyfriend 22 years ago! He borrowed his roommate’s Grey Flannel because I said I liked it and it didn’t make me sneeze.
Fresh Water Lake – I think of all of my fun summers at Pines Lake.
Liquid Lysol - I think of my father wallpapering the living room. The Lysol had something to do with the wallpaper paste.
Pampers & Johnson Baby Lotion – I think of my boys as babies. I like the smell of a fresh package of Pampers and no I don’t think of poopy diapers.
Tea Roses – I think of when my grandparents visited from Virginia and they always brought roses from their garden.
Carnations – I think of my mom and when she used to take me out to lunch at the Greenhouse Restaurant on Ratzer Road in the years before I started kindergarten.
Bayberry – I think of my mom making candles for Christmas.
A Rich Merlot – I think of my Sweetie and I on our honeymoon in Sonoma.
****
Your Turn
What scent triggers a strong memory for you?
LinkWithin
7 comments:
I'm a smeller, too. My favorite is Mama: yeast and strawberry jam.
Scents don't do anything for me, really. I will always remember the smell of burning insulation when a school bus caught fire, decades ago. That's about it for me. ;-)
The perfume my mom wore when I was younger. Gets me every time.
Play doh reminds me of when L was little.
Baking Chocolate cake.
I hope this is not too much of a downer, but I will never forget the smell of Manhattan right after 9/11. It was a cloying, harrowing smell that didn't fade for days or weeks or even for months. I hope never to catch a whiff of that smell again.
This also reminds me - much more fondly - of my younger sister's college essay. It was all about my mother's cozy gray sweater and its reassuring scent...
The smell of fresh yeast and baked bread can take me back to Sunday mornings in my grandmother's kitchen so fast it makes my head spin!
I remember the smell of the pound cake and fresh jam my mom would make a few times a year...I cannot replicate that anywhere else!
That's a great post. I specifically bought a perfume gel before our honeymoon and wore it everyday so that whenever I put it on, I think of that. Can't remember any other specific scents now, but I know that I often have memories triggered by a passing whiff of something.
Post a Comment