Picture Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/cr%C3%A8me-br%C3%BBl%C3%A9e-sweet-dish-dessert-327134/
Smells can evoke memories of places, people, and specific time periods in your life. Just the briefest whiff of a scent can send your mind into a tailspin of memories and thoughts. As part of a writing challenge, I am going to describe my five favorite smells and what they mean to me.
My father worked on the line at General Motors (GM) and when he would come home, I would rush to him and give him a hug. He would smell like oil, grease, and whatever else they used there. It always gave me a sense of security and safety. I am sure most people would shy away from it but the scent of the oils and grease used in the automotive industry was able to comfort me in a way no other scent could. Even though, I have not smelled this in many, many years, I can still remember what it was like and I find myself thinking fondly of my father.
The second smell I really love is citrus scents like orange and lemon. There is something about the invigorating scent of oranges that gets my attention. I feel more awake and almost refreshed by the smell of oranges. I love to use orange essential oil just to sniff whenever I need a pick me up. With the scent of lemons, I get a sense of cleanliness and makes me think of sunshine on a bright summer day.
My third favorite smell is vanilla which is sweet, warm, and comforting. I love vanilla in perfumes or body sprays, lotions, candles, and of course in sweet foods like cookies or cakes. Vanilla is a versatile scent that works well in any room of my home. To me, vanilla is like Christmas time all year long.
The next smell can take me back to my childhood and to the vacations at my uncle’s home in the woods. Whenever we would visit my uncle on our family vacations, he would take us picking wild raspberries and other berries if they were in season. So for me the scent of raspberries brings back happy memories of some of the best times with my family.
The last of my favorite smells is of a campfire. This smell makes me feel relaxed and relieved of stress from my hectic daily life. Nothing compares to sitting around a campfire talking to friends and family while roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Time seems to stand still and I am transported to another world.
I am sure that I could come up with more favorite smells, but I will leave it to five. These are the most important ones that I have since they remind me of long gone family and of the happy times when I was with them. What are some of your favorite smells? What do they make you feel or think about when you smell them? Feel free to share them here.
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Great post! And I like your image too! I see you've been playing with GIMP :P
I love a lot of these same scents too, and often for the same reasons as you. I think things like the smell of vanilla in the Christmas baking may have become embedded in the culture!
Yes, I have been playing with GIMP. I love it and have you to thank for it. I believe that vanilla has been embedded into our traditions and our culture too. But it is a very comforting smell.
I like this post. It reminds me for a certain smell of a flower.That flower is red Santan. Its odor reminds me of my first suitor when I was 16 and it was in a far away place in Bukidnon. I was having my summer vacation in my sister's home when someone had a crush on me.Everyday he gave me fresh red Santan flower.I seldom smell this kind now for I can only see roses in the city where I live. What a nice reminiscing of the past.LOL.
That is a wonderful memory to have. It sounds very romantic like right out of a movie.
I love the scent of the wet soil just when it rains. I also love the scent of roses.
I guess tonight is the night for memories, for me. I remember the smells of one place always. It was the old feed store in La Porte, Texas. The smells were a mix of feeds, hay, gumballs from the gumball machine and others I could not identify. But it was an overall sweet smell, something you would not expect there. I would top it off with the smell from a freshly opened bottle of Coca Cola from the little red and gray coke machine. I can picture the whole scene still.
That sounds like a wonderful memory based on smells, @joegarcia. I love when you smell something that takes you back to a memory and it is like you are living it again. Just from your description I can almost smell it myself. Thanks for sharing your memory with me.
I too associate scents and music with events in my life. There are a few scents though that bring sadness in me specially those tube roses which I associate with funerals. Most of the wreaths and crosses will have them.
@bestwriter Yes some of the scents can make you remember sad events too. Calla Lilies are what I associate with funerals. People always seem to send these flowers.