"Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel." Oliver Wendell Holmes
It is said that smell is the strongest of our five senses when it comes to memory. A whiff of something familiar can trigger memories of childhood experiences, certain places, times, and especially people. I have always relied heavily on my sense of smell. Anyone who knows me knows that I smell everything that is unfamiliar to me as a form of personal investigation. So, I guess it is safe to say that many of my memories are wrapped up in and even defined by scents. Recently, I used a forgotten conditioner in my shower and was bombarded by both grief and joy as I smelled my grandmother in the bottle. A face wash I used one summer takes me back to some of the most carefree times of my life when my days were filled with floats down Terrapin Creek, laying out to the sounds of Band of Horses, and savoring sun and solitude as I found myself; and nights of Mexican food, margaritas, and making new friends under starry summer skies. Any time I smell Freeze-It Hairspray, which is a rare event, I can imagine being in a uniform, hose, and white boots with butterflies raging in my stomach as I waited to step on the field during halftime.
Often I think smells draw us to people. I can say for certain that many of the people I am closest to have a familiar, pleasant smell that comforts me and makes me feel "at home" with them. Pamela smells clean; my sisters smell sweet and sweaty; my mother smells of hand lotion and softness; my father of new car; and Scott's smell is indefinable, but intoxicating. Smell plays a big role in our everyday lives, but is overlooked for our more obvious senses like sight. Today, I am promising to fine tune my sense of smell and more thoroughly take in what I am smelling in the hopes of enriching my life experience and more firmly engraining what and who I experience in my memory.
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