This afternoon, I was kicking back in a patio chair with my eyes closed and the sun on my face. Suddenly I could have sworn I was at the beach. The wind was powering through the leaves on the tree so forcefully that they sounded like ocean waves. I carefully opened one eye just a bit to check where I was. Then I felt dumb because I was still in the backyard, and I couldn't believe I had to check. So I closed my eyes again and immediately I was back on the beach. This time, I could even smell the ocean. I realized that was backwards from the way smell usually works with my memory. I often smell something that causes me to become almost transported to another place and time. But rarely do I become so transported by other means that I begin to imagine a smell.
This got me thinking about some of my most powerful "smell memories." The ones that happen frequently or are especially intense. Here are a few of them in no particular order:
When I smell exhaust while walking along a busy street, I feel like I am walking in London. That was the only time in my life that I regularly had to walk along busy streets to class.
When I smell watermelon I think I am in the backyard of my grandparent's farm house splitting open a ripe watermelon from the field.
When I smell popcorn burning, it reminds me of the many lunches I ate in the crummy faculty lounge at the elementary school where I taught.
What smells are memory-inducing to you?
5 comments:
This wind has really thrown me as well. It sounds like a big storm outside. I have done the same thing were I've had to double check to see that I am really looking at a clear, sunny day! I haven't gone as far as smelling the storm though. It is amazing how smells can instantly transport you to another time and place.
When I smell ground beef browning on the stove, I am taken back to being pregnant with the twins & always nauseous! Sam used to make Hamburger Helper all the time & I HATED the smell of cooking meat!
Honey suckle reminds me of my childhood. Lifesaver Spearmint candies remind me of my pregnancy with Todd. I ate them constantly to keep from getting sick at school. I gag if I smell them today!
an older home smell (50 to 60 years) really reminds me of my childhood..rarely smell that anymore and the first time I did, I just realized how much I missed the smell..obviously you can tell all my relatives were old when I was young..I just lost a cousin who was 85 years old. That smell I didn't like when I was a kid, but it was sure nostalgic when it occurred when I was visiting an elderly couple not too long ago.
Yankee Candle has a new smell this summer called sun and sand. It smells exactly like the beach. I light it occassionally just to smell Playa or Cancun. :)
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