I'm really fascinated by smells and how they connect so heavily with people's memories. Like every now and then I'll come across the mixture of cigerettes and mints, which always reminds me of my dad's mom because that's what her purse always smelled like. I still remember the first time I encountered this smell after she died.
I was working at a CD store and I was ringing up this older woman. And there was that smell and I was taken aback by it because of what it made me think about. Now it's not nesicarily a nice smell or one I want around, but there's still a connection to it that is hard to explain.
My mom is that way with the smells of a barn: the leather, dirt, dust, hay, and horses. She loves that smell because she was a horse person and had a horse from the time she was thirteen until I was about eight or nine. We would go to Bush Gardens in Williamsburg once every summer and if I had let her, my mom would have been content spending the how time in the little stable they have.
It's a smell that reminds her of a passion she no longer has the means to indulge in and that's how I was with chlorine.
My dad's mom, Nanie, taught me how to swim and the moment she got me over my fear of having my head underwater, she couldn't get me out of that pool. I spend as much time as she would let me in the pool whenever I was at her house. I spent so much time that my hair eventually got blonde streaks from the sun and chlorine and I would get this gorgeous deep tan.
After she died, the pool went with her and it became a rare treat to get in a pool maybe once a summer -- not nearly enough. And I missed it. I missed it so much -- in the same why my mom misses being around horses, but I have summoned up some courage and joined a public pool.
It's at a Jewish community center and I pass by it everyday on my way home from work, so there's no excuse for me not to go.
I went for the first time last Friday and was very proud of myself. I am generally pretty prudent, not to mention overweight, and am not at all comfortable with being in a bathing suit in public, but I did it -- of course it helps that I'm pretty much blind without my glasses and everyone just looks like a blurb of color anyway. So even if they are looking and scruntinizing, I am blissfully ignorant thanks to my ridiculously poor eyesight -- who knew that would ever be a plus.
But even the day that I just went on the tour of the facility, when I was assulted by the chlorine and water, I was ready to jump in right then and there.
Then afterwards, even after taking a shower, I could still faintly smell the chlorine and to me it was a wonderful smell. And it just felt so good to be in the water again -- it's probably been two years since I've been in a pool.
Obviously barn smells and chlorine aren't popular smells, but I think it's intersting how they become more than just a smell.
Well I have to get to work. It's going to both a short and a long week since I am taking Thursday and Friday off to go to my dad's father's second funeral -- his ashes are being buried in Arlington National -- and I have a tone of stuff to get done from now through Wednesday at work, but I can actually see my desk again which is nice. One of my co-workers and I came in Saturday and cleaned up some stuff.
I'm both excited to get out of town for a couple days, but on edge because my dad's family has a tendency to stress me out.
So needless to say I won't be online much this week.
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It's funny how smells can affect us. In my case I find the smell that is a combination of camphor and mothballs. LOL Yeah, it's kind of weird but it reminds me of my grandmothers and my mom. It's because they used to store their kimonos - made of silk - in these wooden chests and they would put mothballs in them to preserve the material I assumed. It's not exactly a pleasant smell but it always reminds me of church - my mom, grandmother and aunts wore their kimonos to church because they would dance in them.
I still have my mom's kimonos in a carved cedar chest that holds all things Japanese. Various scrolls and funeral photos, etc. Every time I open it I think of my mom and grandmothers.
Having been raised by his Japanese grandparents, my stepson knows the smell too and says he used to think of it as the "Japanese" smell. LOL
It really is interesting how we associate different smells with different people, events etc. I have so many -- like the smell of bacon cooking along with coffee and eggs reminds me of waking up at my mom's parents house.
That's really awesome to still have those kimonos. I know things are just things in the bigger picture, but they hold memories and emotion with them too...it's nice to have somethign to hold onto and to pass on.
The smell of Play-Dough brings back memories of innocence and freedom.
Incense always reminds me of going to church with my grandmother and I get wistful.
Incense reminds me of funerals. In Buddhist funerals, everyone - starting with family members - goes up and light incense, stick it in the bowl of ashes, say a prayer and go sit down.
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