The Scent of a Memory

*sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiffffffffffffffff* I don’t really know how to spell the sound you make when you breathe deeply in an effort to take in a glorious scent, but at 3:15 p.m. today, when I left the school building to walk to my car, that is the sound I was making. Today was the first cutting of the school lawn. As soon as I exited the door, the sweet, sweet smell of fresh-cut grass was all about me. Fresh-cut grass is what the color green smells like. Not forest-green or sea-green, just pure green. And since we have had an abundance of spring rain lately, the smell was even sweeter than I remembered it. Or course, it’s really no mystery--the greener the grass, the sweeter the smell.

For me, aromas really trigger some great memories. For instance, fresh-cut-grass-smell reminds me of carefree childhood days rollerskating down the street and long ago high school dance team tryouts (they always took place in the springtime). Today the smell reminded me that my stress will very soon decrease from ten to zero, since I am fortunate to enjoy summer vacation. It also got me thinking about my other favorite aromas and how they connect to important experiences or simply make me smile. Here are some more of my favorites (in no particular order):

Warm, fresh corn tortillas: There is nothing quite like the earthy smell of freshly made corn tortillas—a warm, comforting aroma of toasted masa (the traditional tortilla dough made from ground up fire-roasted corn soaked in limewater). That smell takes me right back to my semester in Mexico when I was so young, but thought I was so old, and I did things that I would never do now (like eat tacos from a street vendor set up in a tin box with no running water). You can imitate the fresh-corn-tortilla smell to about 80% accuracy by heating some store-bought corn tortillas in the microwave, but the true smell can only be enjoyed by standing nearby when a corn tortilla has just been pulled off the griddle. Having lived in Mexico City for a semester my sophomore year in college, I know the true delight of actually doing just that. And here in the States there are certainly plenty of cities that have tortillerías (a tortilla shop where people make and sell them), as well as some restaurants that make their own tortillas in-house.

Pampers Swaddlers diapers: It’s only the Swaddlers smell that I really adore. Pre-motherhood, I had no idea such a sweet, delicate smell could even exist. The smell is in the neighborhood of baby powder, but so much better. That extraordinary smell reminds me of the first days of Drew’s life both in the hospital and at home. ***There is a chance that I might have saved a Swaddler diaper in a Ziploc bag just so I could open it sometimes and take a whiff down memory lane.*** Unfortunately, Pampers doesn’t make Swaddlers diapers in all sizes, so once your baby outgrows them, you’re out of luck if you love the scent as much as I do. Thank goodness Drew started in the “N” size (for Newborn), so we got to enjoy Swaddlers all the way through size 2 before making the switch. The other Pampers diapers smell nice, but not all cuddly and gentle and newborn-y. If we are blessed to have a second child, I would like to try cloth diapers, but not until after he/she would grow out of the Swaddlers. Just can’t give up that smell!


Puppy Breath: For non-animal people this probably sounds gross, but puppy breath has the cutest, most adorable scent. Unfortunately, it disappears with age. And I’m not a big fan of adult-dog breath. I didn’t grow up with a dog and would never have considered myself a dog-person…until I met Timber, our chocolate lab. It was a sad day when Timber lost his puppy breath. Sort of like Drew outgrowing his Pamper Swaddler diapers. Sigh.

Bumble & Bumble Hair-Thickening Conditioner: The shampoo smells the same, but the conditioner smell really lingers on your hands and in your hair. I always goo up my hair with the conditioner and then put my hands right by my nose and inhale deeply before rinsing them. I had never revealed that shower ritual until my younger sister had visited and used it at my house. She gushed about how much she loved the smell of it, too, so I decided my conditioner-smelling-ritual wasn’t so crazy after all. The memory linked to this is San Diego visiting my sister-in-law. That’s where I was when I first smelled the stuff. Imagine—an aroma so wonderful you remember where you are when you first smell it.

Starbucks coffee: I love the smell when you walk in the door—it says, “Everything is going to be just fine as soon as your Grande Non-fat Mocha w/ Whip is in your hands.” The aroma is only slightly better if it is wafting into my car, because that means that I am sitting at the drive-thru window and I didn’t even have to get out of my car to get my treat. Enough said.

Lake Michigan: Lake Michigan has a fresh, clean, salt-free-water smell. It smells like the ocean, minus the salty bite! You can smell it a little inland when the wind is just right, and that smell makes me want to drop what I'm doing and head straight for the beach. I moved to West Michigan a couple of years after I started teaching, and lived right by the lake. I lived in some GREAT places. The first house I rented was right on a lake that connected to Lake Michigan via a short channel. Then, I even got to live right across the street from the Lake Michigan. There was the old condo I rented, the road, and then the beach. Sunsets every single night. You can imagine the despair I experienced when the condo needed serious renovation and the owner decided to renovate and then double the rent. Bye bye. So very sad.

I don't live nearly as close to Lake Michigan as I used to, so I don't get my daily fix. However, I drive to the beach as frequently as possible. Smelling Lake Michigan is the closest thing to feeling like I'm "home" other than actually driving home to Illinois, where I grew up.