Thursday's Thoughts  "The Scent of a Memory"


Okay, I admit it.  I am addicted to scent.  No, really, I am.  It would be more correct to say I am addicted to scents (plural)...all kinds of wonderful, delicious, invigorating, comforting scents!  To me, scents rank way up there with words, tea, friends, a great laugh, and a great meal.... Life's simple, yet greatest pleasures.  At least to me...but yesterday, something made me realize that I must not be alone in my "affliction" (not to be confused with woe, mind you!)

Yesterday, sifting through the junk mail, I came across a flyer/coupon from (can I say this in a blog?) the Yankee Candle Company.  I was expecting to see their usual summer line of products, "Beach Towel," "Laundry on the Line," "Fourth of July," (ok, I just made these names up!) but instead the coupon pictured four new scented candles from their "Man Candles" line!  No joke...there's "Riding Mower," "First Down," "2 x 4" and "Man Town." (those are the real names, in case you want to get them).  My first reaction was "Now there's a job I could sink my teeth into...naming new candles!"  Then, I realized what my receiving this coupon meant...our natural love of scent is so strong, and apparently so profitable, that now we are getting the men in on the act!  (Or at least the women who buy the gifts for the men...I already know I am buying "Riding Mower" for one man in my life!)  So strong is our attraction to scent that now, in addition to perfumes, colognes, aftershaves, room sprays, scented drawer liners, aroma sticks, we now add "Man Candles" to the list!  This selling of smelling is very telling, indeed.  I guess there's a big market of fellow addicts out there just waiting to strike a match and settle in to watch the PGA on Sunday, while enjoying the wafting aroma of "Riding Mower" along with a cold beer.

So it's good to know I am not alone!  My love affair with scent is long and serves almost like music serves as soundtrack to a movie...scent is the "smell track" of my life!  Certain smells, whether they are from food, nature, or a bottle from the counter at Macy's, are associated with certain times in my life.  Scents, much like a great piece of music or book, can transport us instantly to a time, place, or mood indelibly stored in the warehouse of our memory.  I hope you have experienced this pleasure many times in your life.  For me, the hot aroma of beef broth simmering will always take me back to childhood weekends when my father would make beef vegetable soup,  the scent of pine needles baking in the sun returns me to lazy summer days outside, the potent air of Chanel No. 5 reminds me of mother's night out, the original, burgundy-bottled Ralph Lauren perfume twirls back time to college dances and winter nights, Inis takes me to wind-scented days in Ireland where I first discovered "my signature scent," and now there is my new favorite scent by a company called Tokyo Milk.  It's called Gin and Rosewater and honest to God, it's like having a Beefeater and tonic with lime splashed on your neck (which may or may not bring back fond memories for you!) The list of reminiscents goes on and on for me....brown bread baking in the oven, the steaming pavement after a summer shower, the spicy smolder of a winter fire, the entire spring sniffed a bloomed hyacinth, the comfort of a simmering pot of chicken soup...I don't have enough room to name them all!  All I know is that just one whiff can whisk you back and allow you to revisit, even just for that instant, a place, time, or emotion that you carry inside you.  Powerful stuff this scent!  A week or so ago, after I had spritzed my neck with Burberry, my daughter remarked when I walked by her, "You know, that smell of Burberry or Inis is always going to remind me of being little and you and Dad getting ready to go out for the night."  The torch had been passed.  What a joyful moment...to know that years from now after I'm gone, one breath of those aromas can somehow bring me back, bring her back, to that time when, like a beautiful scent, our lives mingled so sweetly.

Thanks for reading.  Let it steep!



one whiff...whisks...