The Smell of Memories

Every two weeks Bloggers unite for a day to write about a communal topic. This week LetsBlogOff asks the question what smell takes you back?

If the wind is just right there are days, when walking the streets of Tampa, I get a whiff of ocean air.  My mind immediately pulls up memories of weekends, while in high schoo,l spent at the beach in Lake Worth with my friends playing football, frisbee and checking out the cute guys.  Fun times, simpler times. 

Someone in my neighborhood must walk frequently past my house while smoking.  While I never see them I will be in my house, smell the cigarette smoke and immediately think my mom must be near.  Not the most pleasant smell but my mom smoked and that is what I remember.   Sometimes it makes me cry and other times smile.  I always remember having to clean out the ashtrays.  Yuck!

I live in the Sunshine State and oranges are big business.  I have a tree in my backyard.  The orange blossom smell is delightful however there is another orange smell that immediately makes me gag.  When I was a kid I refused to swallow pills so I was a challenge to the doctor & my mother whenever I was sick.  One time the doctor gave my mother a medicine in liquid form - orange tasting.  It ended up on my mother's shoes most times.  I was walking through a mall one time and that exact smell came over me and it took everything in my power not to vomit right then and there!

Cinnamon - ah a lovely smell!  My mom baked and I was always given a small amount of dough to make whatever I wanted with.  No matter what I made - gingerbread man, a star cookie, a roadrunner (loved the cartoon) I had to put cinnamon on top.  

What smell today will make a memory tomorrow?

Please check out my fellow participants of Lets Blog Off and read what smell means to them!