Déja Smell... Again Please!

Tonight, I was inspired to write this blog when the smell of a perfume I hadn't worn in a while, brought me back to an all-nighter that my friend Anne and I had pulled in high school, procrastinators that we were, or are, I should say. During a study break we decided to break out my swim gear and wear it over our clothes for shits and giggles. I think my perfume had somehow spilled on my swim bag, hence the smell. I'm sure it was a 'you had to be there' memory, but all the same, it was a night that we laughed until our bellies hurt. I laughed out loud tonight when I thought about it.

I smelled my perfum tonight and relived a memory from a thousand years ago. I have termed this an occurance of 'déja smell'. The following are other occurances throughout the past week. It's been a smelly one...

Last week, I was driving to work the morning after a heavy rain and the desert smelled amazing. Even if it was just for a second, I found myself back in Tucson, in the year 2000, driving in my Jeep (sans the top) back out to the far East side with my friend Tennille. A monsoon had hit earlier that day and the smell was fabulous and pungent. We were out in the middle of nowhere driving along a road toads like to frequent late at night. The toads were everywhere along the road. We were listening to one of our favorite 80s compellation CDs, singing, and laughing every time I dodged a toad. The memory was nothing significant, nor was our night that night, but we had a blast. And driving to work that morning, I got to feel that all over again.

A couple of days later, while walking to my car through a small patch of 'garden' outside my doctor's office, I suddenly found myself back in 1997, in Pasadena, late at night, walking down a pathway hand in hand with my boyfriend, on our way to his pool house. I had been deliriously happy. The feeling from that memory stuck with me all the way home.

Yesterday, I was going through an old duffel bag in my closet. Apparently I had tossed a bunch of crap in it when I last moved. Among other things, I found an old swim cap. The smell brought back the memory and attached feelings of the day I beat my best time in the 100 meter breaststroke.

Today, walking out to my car at 6:30 am, the smell of dew and desert transported me to Lake Powell in 1998, where we had parked our houseboat for the night. Those of us going water skiing were up early for breakfast before hitting the lake. The campfire, friends, family, and the most beautiful scenery on earth; it was like I was there again.

They say that of all your senses, your sense of smell is most strongly linked to memory. I find it incredible that something as simple as a smell can take you back to places and feelings so long forgotten. When I experience déja smell, it's almost like reliving the memory that results, however briefly. I have flashbacks that result from déja vu or even a picture, but those are merely flashbacks; that's just remembering. Déja smell is really so different. The only other memory trigger that comes close, for me, is music. I get to feel the moment, not just remember it.

Déja smell gives new meaning to the phrase, 'Take time to smell the roses' doesn't it? When you do take the time, you might get more than just the smell of a rose. Kind of makes you want to take a deep breath and a big whiff.