remembering through smells and scents

Truth be told, the old memory isn’t what it used to be, but over the course of the last few days I have smelled things that made me remember things from my past.  I really love the smell of leather because it reminds me of being little and going shopping for new ballet slippers.  Getting new ballet slippers was always such a treat.  I imagine this was a yearly occurrence, which is why the smell affected me so much.  Please note that I don’t mean toe shoes that one would use for pointe so you can stand on your toes.  I mean leather slippers that you wear between the ages of three and ten.  Pointe shoes were not a treat.  Those things were harder than hell to break in and would cause blisters and pain.  I don’t even think those shoes smelled like anything, or if they did, they smelled like bad stuff and I blocked that smell from my memory.

I also went running in the nearby park on Saturday and there are certain scents in the woods that take me back to moments during my three summers on a trail crew.  My favorite ones are pine trees baking in intense summer sun and when the forest is very lush and it rains.  Just for the record, I definitely smelled the lush, rain smell more than the baking pine scent during my stint as an outdoors woman.  I was in New England.  It rains in New England.  Lots.  Those are my two favorite smells from the past, in addition to smells that remind me of people.  I love walking by someone (and smelling what is most likely his/her deodorant) and thinking about an adventure or a happy time.