Isn’t it funny how certain smells can jog your memory and take you instantly back to a specific moment or emotion in time?! The other day, I caught a whiff of the fresh smell of new asphalt. I love the smell of new asphalt. I have very fond memories of this smell - it reminds me of going to Kings Dominion in the summertime! New asphalt is one of those smells that just makes me smile and takes me right back to being a carefree kid! It will always hold a special place in my schnoz!
Surprisingly, I learned that most of our smell related memories are formed from childhood memories. This is because as a child we are introduced to new odors. For the record, I also have a bottle of my Grandma's perfume that she hasn't worn in forever, but every time I smell it, it reminds me of her. And, there's a very distinct onion smell that reminds me of my other Grandma. (I mean a very loving, endearing, heart warming onion smell - not a 'Grandma needs to put some deodorant on' smell!) The fragrance 'Happy' by Clinique reminds me so much of high school, and there used to be a vanilla from Bath and Body Works that totally reminded me of middle school!
AND, a few months ago I bought this air freshener spray for our bathroom that was titled as some tropical scent but definitely was the exact same smell as my Strawberry Shortcake doll that I had when I was like five years old! (I still have that doll, by the way)! Even Brian said that the scent smelled like the old school Strawberry Shortcake! (He confiscated that scent for his car...)
My sniffer isn't the only sense of my five (sometimes six) senses that remind me of specific times throughout my life. Even certain songs take me back to middle school, high school, and college! Sometimes it's funny when Brian and I hear a song together. I'll say, "This reminds me of middle school!" He'll say, "This reminds me of college!"
It's just amazing to me how our senses can take us back to moments in time so quickly. Even when they only last for a couple seconds, it is totally worth the time travel!
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So true about the olfactory sense. My grandmother's house always had this wonderful aroma of spices which I still can't identify to this day...probably some cloves, mint, sugar...I don't know, but I loved it. I've never smelled it anywhere since and I wish I could duplicate it. She was the world's best baker! Melt in your mouth pie crust, fabulous chocolate chip cookies, Xmas cookies, oh my. She used to bake tarts in a little tart pan for my brothers and me with the leftover pie crust and we'd put jelly on it. YUM! I still have the pan. Yeah, that olfactory is powerful stuff!! I can't wait to use it on your bambino! OXOXO Gram and soon-to-be GG!
ReplyDeleteThat's incredible, Gram! It is simply amazing when you are taken back to that moment in time. Whenever I smell your perfume it just makes me smile! Our little bambino is going to have some amazing memories of his or her GG!
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