Smells

I am a smell person. My sense of smell is very sensitive. Over the years I have come to realize that it is much more sensitive than the average person's. Not only is my nose sensitive but because of it, I associate many memories with smells.

For example, the first couple of times we turned on the furnace after Mom died, I remember how it smelled. Now, I'm sure you have all smelled that smell of the furnace coming on for the first time or two in the fall. Up until that point, I never paid attention to it. Well, that year, when I smelled it, I didn't know what it was. Dad explained that it was the furnace and that it would smell musty like that for the first couple of times it comes on.

Every year since, when my furnace comes on, I remember that first time after Mom died. Always.

Also - shaving cream. I loved being in the bathroom with Dad when he shaved. He used good old fashioned shaving cream. So - I lived there with him for 18 years. I have lived with a husband for 26+ years. Every time I smell shaving cream, I think of my dad. I don't think of Vernon or of Kent but I think of my dad. Never fails. Shaving cream and my dad go together.

Just a few minutes ago, as I was in the kitchen making chicken noodle soup, and I heard it raining outside, I opened the kitchen door. The smell of rain and wet leaves brought back a flood of memories. Oh my goodness. I had flashes of being a young girl, playing outside after school. Of Mom being inside making a dinner just like I was doing right then. I thought of headlights pulling into the driveway and the lamp post being on. (And if the lamp post was on, it meant someone was not home yet). I thought of Dad and how he usually had a piece of bread with jam after dinner while we were all still sitting there at the dinner table. Or he would have one of those pastries that came in a foil pan that slid into a plastic bag. I never liked those.

I think most of my "smell" memories come from being a young girl. It's amazing how the smell of something can trigger a memory for me. Sometimes a long, lost memory or just a flash of a memory.

Why is it that most smell memories are from my growing up years? I'm not sure but in my humble opinion it is because that's where Julie became Julie. Oh she has changed a lot over the years, she evolved after leaving home and experiencing all that she has experienced.

Yet my learning about the world, even though it was a small world at 115 East Center, that's where I discovered the smell of rain, of wet leaves, of shaving cream, of musty furnaces and of so much more.

My parents created that world for me. A place where we paid attention to nature and the changes of each season. And with a Dad who pointed out those things to me. So I'm grateful that I have a very alert nose and very vivid memories.