My Life - Chapter 45 - Favorite Smells

A pie from Sugar River Pizza. 8/10/13 (dwm)

 There are a lot of great smells.

 Our sense of smell is a wonderful gift and one of our most powerful memory triggers.

 Here's what Discovery.com says about the connection: "Scents bypass the thalamus and go straight to the brain's smell center, known as the olfactory bulb.  The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, which might explain why smell can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion."

When I smell a Domino's pizza, I'm taken back to the dorms at Drake University.  My roommate Scott and I would frequently order one around midnight back in the days of their "30 minutes or it's free" promise, hoping it would be at least one minute late.  

We 'scarfed' it down while we studied, leaving a slice or two in the box for breakfast. 

Pizza in the oven or pizza from a restaurant makes me happy, reminding me of spending time with friends or a late snack with a close friend.  

Fresh bread may be my favorite aroma.  Buttered, fresh, home-made bread is one of the greatest things ever... especially when my Grandma Schempp made it.  As long as I knew her, she made multiple loaves every weekend.  I was happy eating multiple slices topped with butter and jelly.

The smell of creosote isn't pleasant, but it reminds me of playing with my friend K.C. on hot, summer days.  We weren't moving railroad ties around, but our fort must have been near some, because that's what I think when I smell that chemical preservative.

The smell after a spring rain is fresh, hopeful, and aromatic with a bouquet of blooming and growing flowers and a feel of hope for warm days, sunshine, and long bike rides.

A fresh-cut evergreen smells like Christmas, it takes me back to our living room after we returned home after the Christmas Eve school program and unwrapped presents together in front of a roaring fire.

The smell may not have anything to do with the memory, but it creates an instant recall practically transporting you through time and space to that very moment.  Which means my favorite smells are usually paired with my favorite moments.