Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

posted by erin on Feb 9

I have a thing about smells.  Sometimes it’s good, other times…not so much.  I have to know what things smell like.  When I pick up a shirt off the floor…sniff.  Can I wear it again?  Is it ready for the laundry?  When someone walks by…sniff.  Are they wearing perfume or cologne?  Does it suit them?  Do they need some deoderant?  (this is when the “not so much” comes into play)  :)  

My favorite is when I walk into my bedroom.  I *HEART* the smell of my bedroom.  It’s the smell of sleep mingled with my vanilla airfreshner from Bath & Body Works in the bathroom and the lingering scent of the body wash I use when I shower.  It feels like a cocoon wrapping itself around me everytime I walk in, probably because it’s the most personal scent.  (The reason I started this post in the first place is because I’m snuggled up in my bed with my laptop.) 

As a child I refused to let my mom wash my blanky.  I would go to great lengths to hide it from her.  Who knows what kind of cooties were growing in that thing, but heaven forbid she alter the smell of it.  My pillow case, too.  But that wasn’t as important as the blanky.  I still bury my nose in my blankets when I get into bed each night and take a deep sniff.  Mmmm.  It relaxes me.  It seems my children have inherited this trait.  One likes the smell of her blanky, the other smells her pillow.

When I hug my daughters, I bury my nose in their hair and inhale deeply.  I used to do that a LOT when they were babies.  I would hold their tiny, round, fuzzy heads up by my face and just breathe in their baby goodness, especially after a bath.  I actually kept a bottle of the Johnson’s baby wash (before they altered the scent and pissed me off completely) and from time to time I’ll open it and I get all teary-eyed with the nostalgia and I miss my babies. 

The smell of paint or stain are pretty high on my list of faves.  I adore the smell of fresh paint when I walk into a new house.  When I open a can of paint, inevitably I’ll lean in closer and take a good whiff.  As a kid I used to hang out in my Dad and Grandpa’s woodworking shop because the smell of stain, glue and sawdust had such a warm, wonderful smell.  It’s one thing I love about building houses and moving so often.  When the new house smells disappear I get a bit sad.  I think I might have to invent a “new house scent in a can” that I can spray and it might save us some money and moving!  

And the smell of books.  Old ones, new ones…sigh.  The first thing I do when I walk into any bookstore is enjoy the smells.  It’s gotta be one of the most comforting smells out there.  I love the smell of new paper and bindings, but there is something about the mustiness of old, used books, too.  Of course, when there is a coffee shop in the bookstore, the pleasure increases tenfold, as there is something timeless about the smell of books mixed with the aroma of coffee and pastries.

Ah, yes, coffee.  I don’t drink the stuff, but the smell is wonderful, don’t you think?  It reminds me of mornings when I lived at home and I would wake up to the aroma of coffee brewing downstairs and it was the sign that my mom was awake.  It reminds me of my wonderful friends, since pretty much all my friends drink coffee.  It reminds me of sitting in Tim Horton’s having lingering conversation over a steaming cup (well, the other person has a steaming cup, I have a latte or hot chocolate).

When I think about our upcoming trip to Mexico, I’m instantly transported back in my mind and one of the things I recall most vividly is the smells.  The salty air, the wafting scent of all the restaurants as we wander down the street, the wet sand. 

Don’t you think it’s incredible how that just one of the five senses can invoke so much memory with such intensity?   

What scents are the most nostalgic or pleasing to you?  Or which of the 5 senses is the strongest for you?