So this morning I was getting dressed and I wasn't sure if my shirt was clean so I sniffed it. (Yes, I'm aware that is really a "guy" thing to do and I'm not a guy).
Anyway, it smelled like donuts. Yum! But it instantly transported me back to Cleveland, Tennessee where Paul went to college, while I worked at Dunkin' Donuts. I came home smelling that way, everyday. Quicker than a finger snap, I went there.
Do smells do that for you? Perfumes maybe? Chanel number 5 and 22. My Dad bought these for Mom one Christmas, You could tell she felt so fancy. It was THE one to have! It made such a impression on me that I named my daughter Chanel years later.
Gardenia is my mother in law, Marie Wagoner's favorite. I think of her laughing and happy for some reason when I get a whiff of it.
White Shoulders makes me think of my sister in law, Carole and the Christmas when she got a lotion type and how it wouldn't stop coming out of the bottle. It was everywhere. And we all laughed and laughed.
Lauren by Ralph Lauren makes me think of when I wore it back in the day. And also of my friend Carmen Hutchings Hart, that gave me my first bottle. She had decided she wanted something else and gave me part of a bottle. I was hooked! I considered naming my middle daughter Lauren. But the name Carla won out.
Old Spice was my Dad's choice of aftershave . Which is a bittersweet memory as he has been gone a very long time now and I miss him. I couldn't bear for Paul to wear it for the longest time.
But not only perfumes spark memories. Oranges too. The smell of oranges make me think of the ones I would get in my mom's stocking that I had hung up at Christmas back when you couldn't get oranges all the time. (Yes, we used her stocking or you may know it as a nylon.) Which makes me think of the pot belly stove and how cold it was in the winter in that old farm house. But I smile at the memories of the love there.
And, this is weird, I realize, But I love the smell of asphalt. Yes, hot asphalt being made into roads or being put in pot holes or on factory roofs. It takes me back to grade school when life was sweet and innocent. As I walked back and forth to school they were paving the street all fresh and new with hot asphalt. And it was so pretty and I've loved the smell every since. I went to school in a Hamtramck, a part of Detroit. Life was simple then. Mom, Dad, Charles and me were a family. The family I came from.
I was at Cracker Barrel the other day. They have these awesome apple, pumpkin candles. Oh the smell of fall!!! I love candles. One of the kinds I like is the fresh laundry/linen ones. Reminds me of when we used to hang our clothes out on the line. Or okay this is rather personal, when I would do laundry and would smell the nice clean t shirts that belonged to Paul and I would whisper a prayer of thanks that we had worked out our marriage problems and we were still together and his laundry was still here. God is good like that.
Again, perfume. Chantilly Lace perfume reminds me of a family friend, Fran Johnson See, who died way to young. She was older than me and I looked up to her. I was a bit in awe of her. She could do no wrong. Her death was such a deep loss. She wore Chantilly Lace.
But a happier memory is when I wear my White Diamond kind. It makes me smile as I think of Chanel, my daughter. One time years ago when I had lost weight and had just got a new bottle she slipped her arms around my waist hugged me and breathed deep, "I love that smell, always makes me think of you, mom". She said it with love and a far away look of some past happy times in her eyes. So I think of her when I put it on and always wear it when I know I'll be with her.
Another smell: the Johnson and Johnson pink baby lotion. Oh the sweet baby memories. Chubby cheeks, little arms and legs and bellies being rubbed with pink lotion making them smell so good before diapering and dressing them in sweet layettes with love and kisses. Reminded me that they were still fresh from God. Then I would rock and sing and love on them. Nothing like it!
Fresh new car smell? Paul and I have never owned a new car. But growing up in Detroit. My Dad bought a new car every few years and I remember that smell. It was a happy smell. Dad loved getting a new car and showing it off to his brothers. We were all so proud of them. I think maybe for him it showed he had rose above the poverty of his youth. That he was "doing good".
Speaking of Detroit. When you approached Detroit going north on I 75, there was this horrible, horrible smell. It was from a place called Zug Island. It was where the waste from the steel factories make this bad smell. But, if you are a kid and you are traveling home from Tennessee and you are real tired, the smell drifting into your sleepy mind means you are almost home. And that is a wonderful smell then. Almost home.
Sometimes, unexpectedly the smell of coffee takes me to my grandmother's home. Me waking to her peculator perking up some wonderful smelling coffee for the adults mixing with the smells of some tasty breakfast for me. Her home was full of love and that is why coffee smells so good to this day even though I hardly ever drink any.
Do smells take you places? Where? When? How do they make you feel?
There is a verse about smell:
1 Corinthians 2;15 As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us. TLB version
Do you have the fragrance of Christ in your life? I would imagine the fragrance of Christ would be a smell a bit like heaven. (Okay, I must go on a tangent here. Do you remember Clarence the angel in the movie, It's a Wonderful Life? He smelled like sugar cookies. haha Back to what I was saying...) Which I hear is an awesome place where everything is perfect and wonderful. Have you spent time with him and have his fragrance or have you been hanging with that other crowd that has the stench of smoke? And I don't mean cigarettes. It's a smell of hate, anger, evil, all things dark. The smell of death.
One more smell. Paul and I worked at a church when Mandi, our oldest was little. The church burned and our puppets were in Paul's office. They didn't burn but they smelled of the smoke of the fire for years. It wasn't a pleasant smell.
Do you smell of heaven or hell???
