THE POWER OF SCENT

 "Smells are surer than sounds and sights to make heartstrings crack." ~ Rudyard Kipling

I've been reading bits of Sarah Ban Breathnach's book Simple Abundance yet again, as I transform a spare copy into an "altered book" art journal, and the part about making the most of our senses while we still have them really spoke to me. She quotes Diane Ackerman first, saying "Smells spur memories, but they also rouse our dozy senses, pamper and indulge us, help define our self-image, stir the cauldron of our seductiveness, warn us of danger, lead us into temptation, fan our religious fervor, accompany us to heaven, wed us to fashion, steep us in in luxury..." She then adds, "And if we lost our sense of smell, if suddenly we experienced anosmia, as do two million Americans? We would find ourselves bereft and cast adrift without the internal sextant of scent."

I can attest to that last bit, for I have watched my poor hubby be cast adrift this past year, as first his sense of smell, then taste, were affected my various illnesses and medications.  It is a sad, sad thing. Therefore, I am following her advice to delight in the simple pleasure of my sense of smell, and indulge myself with comfort aromas.

"Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived." ~ Helen Keller

Which got me to thinkin' -- about all the scents that transport me across miles and years. So I made a list, of course. You see that bottle of original spring green Vita Bath there? All I have to do is pop the lid, and I am 21 again, luxuriating in a delicious bubble bath at the Singapore Hilton (the first fancy schmancy hotel I had ever stayed at) thanks to one of the little bottles of Badedas bubblebath that all the bathrooms there were stocked with. The smell of cloves reminds me of the clove-scented cigarettes all the men in Indonesia smoked, and the smell of vomit takes me to the Indonesian markets, where a fruit called durian had a similar scent.

If I want to travel back to my early childhood, all I have to do is take a whiff of Play-do or Crayola crayons. The scent of fresh laundry or ironing has me tagging along behind our housekeeper Geneva, while the scent of vanilla or almond extract has me licking the beaters after my mom has mixed up a cake batter. The scent of certain antique shops, in older buildings with floor furnaces, transports me to the homes of my grandparents and great aunts.

The smell of certain glues and just the memory of the way freshly printed mimeographs smelled, can whisk me back to elementary school, while the smell of chlorine makes me flash back to summers spent at the community pool. The smell of leather and shoe polish takes me to a little shoe repair shop in Hillside Village. The scent of ammonia takes me to a hair salon in that same shopping center, where Mom and her friends all got their perms.

Anything pine-scented turns me into a teenager sitting by the river in Creede, Colorado, where we vacationed every summer. Same thing happened when they brought back Herbal Essence shampoo in the original scent. If I want to relive my college years, all I have to do is catch a whiff of patchouli. The smell of coconut oil puts me on the sunroof of my dorm.

Last but not least, the scents of baby powder and baby oil have me snuggling up to my freshly bathed kiddles, while damp puppy dogs make me remember how they smelled after playing outside.

"For the sense of smell, almost more than any other, has the power to recall memories and it's a pity that we use it so little." ~ Rachel Carson

What about you? What scents cause your heartstrings to crack?