Do you have a super power?
Something that automatically comes to mind when someone suggests you might have one?
I do.
Can you guess what it is?
My sense of smell is highly developed. Highly.
I identify people by their scent.
Without looking up, I can tell who has recently passed me purely by the smell.
You can imagine what my life is. Living in a house of boys. And peepee. Peepee is everywhere. From kids to cat, the bathroom (s) is.too.much. I love all my boys. But. Peepee. I'm seriously thinking about making everyone who uses the toilets under my roof sit down for any and all potty business. But I digress. Slightly.
I think it is a powerful tool, really, the sense of smell. Smells can trigger memories. Smells can transport you to another place. Smells might ruin your day. Smells might brighten your day.
When I smell coffee, I think of a specific person. When I smell Murphy's Oil Soap, I think of a specific house.
I went to visit my Grandma, in Georgia, four years ago this coming week. She was in the hospital, having what would be her final surgery. I was getting ready to start my new job in New York, and I needed to go and say what I knew would be my last in person words. (Incidentally. Nothing prepares you for what you will say. Nothing. You can be a writer at heart. A person who loves words. And simply sit there ready to deliver the speech of a lifetime, and choke. On every single meaningful word. I'm the absolute worst at expressing my heart when it counts. Remember that. When we are parting. Know that I feel so very deeply I am unable. Just. Unable.) We arrived at the hospital, dropped my mother off, and my brother and I traveled on to the house alone. I walked in, turned to my brother and, referencing her Ohio house, said, "It smells just like Grandma's house." Later, when the house was quiet, I slipped into her room, sat in her closet and cried. Her smell was comforting and saddening.
Babies. When they are not covered in diarrhea, babies smell amazing. You lay them on your chest, inhale the sweet scent, and try to get some for-the-love rest.
Lemon smells like tea and summer.
Lilacs smell like happiness.
Cookies smell like home.
Smell and memory will be forever intricately linked. It might not be your super power. Smell. (Which, frankly, is something for which you can be grateful sometimes.) But it is wonderful how in the middle of a random Monday, you remember someone special.
I'm sure that flying through the air holding a bus full of people that you rescued is a better super power.
I wasn't given a choice. Heroes are just born, peeps. So. The next time you need help sussing out that troublesome odor, you just give me call.
And we'll make a memory together.
And that is what makes it special.
PS...
**Men, I'm going to insert a really big tip for y'all here. Buy cologne. Buy it. Wear it. Wear. It. This is not a drill. Ladies, you are welcome.**
Every so often you find a perfect relaxing space, and to it you add your people, your tribe, and you settle in slowly, but with expectation, for the journey ahead. I invite you, my friend, to engage the heart, passion, faith, humor, and love you will find herein. I'm excited to begin this process anew and it is my hope that you will drop by out of curiosity and stay for the road trip. We're mostly walking though...so....yeah.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
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