A Sniff Down Memory Lane

“I just got back to work, sat down, and got a huge whiff of Water Baby.”

This is the email I sent to my sister after returning from the gym. We had just taken what we termed, The Insanity Class (not to be confused with the actual Insanity workout. I just found it insane and extremely difficult not to do the “easy” exercise options just to make it through the entire 30 minutes).

“You’re so weird,” she laughed at me.

“I know, but it really does. There’s a hint of My Little Pony, too, but mostly Water Baby.”

The same smell came wafting to my nose the next day. I thought it might have been one of my co-workers putting on some lotion, but there was no telltale rubbing of the hands.

I certainly wasn’t going to ask, which would only lead to me explaining, “No, it does not bother me. It just happens to smell exactly like my childhood doll, the Water Baby,” who was named - depending on the day – Julie, Sarah, Mary Kate, or Ashley. (Yes, all four of those names refer to the Olsen twins. The two former names were from a movie called To Grandmother’s House We Go. I was obsessed – with the movie, with Full House, with the Olsen twins. It was a phase. Who could blame me though, really? They were awesome when I was 5).

Anyway, the smell came again to my nose and I started sniffing around. Turns out, it was my deodorant (read: my sister’s deodorant that I used 15 minutes before). Mystery solved. Mary Kate and Ashley would be so proud.

So I emailed my sister to tell her that I figured out where the Water Baby smell had come from.

All she did was laugh.

However, the point of this little story is not that my sister owns and uses deodorant that smells like my Water Baby. The point is that this happens to me quite often, and, I am convinced, to others as well. The difference between said other people and me: I verbalize the smell and the correlation it made with a memory of a person, place, or thing in my mind as can be seen from the aforementioned anecdote.

I routinely walk unsuspecting down a street, into a room, past a store or a person, and am met with an onslaught of odors and fragrances that bring about just as many memories – most good, some not-so-good.

Just for fun I’ll give you some examples.

The classics: freshly cut grass, cupcakes just out of the oven, and the metallic smell of blood (okay, the last one may be odd, but anyone who has ever had a bloody nose knows exactly what I’m talking about).

The oddities: the smell of my childhood friend’s house; the natural musk mixed with the fabric softener of my ex; the cologne of my high school crush or grandpa; the play-dough and finger paints of pre-school;  the crayons and construction paper of kindergarten; the perfumes of my pre-school teacher, mom, and sister; the fishy smell of the Jack-and-Jill bathroom of my college dorm which I shared with two Asians (Don’t ask, I choose to believe it was the food they cooked in their room.); and rain coming on a summer evening.

There are undoubtedly more, but these are the scented memories that come to mind at a moment’s notice.

They – whoever they are – say that smell is one of the last senses we lose. I find this a comforting thought because so many of these smells are associated with fond memories I hold in my heart.

So next time you walk into a room or past someone and your nose leads you back down memory lane, follow it, and maybe share the story. You never know what good or laughter could come from doing so.