Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.
-Diane Ackerman
-Diane Ackerman
Do you have a particular scent that brings to mind a memory?
One scent that triggers memories for me is the scent of welding metal. Yes, it’s an odd scent! My dad is a steelworker. When I was younger, we would often bring him lunch at the foundry where he worked. I would go into the foundry to give him his meal. I didn’t realize that I had a scent memory until years later when my husband was working on a car and welding metal. Instantly I was brought back to that foundry in my hometown, walking into the building to bring lunch to my Daddy.
One scent that triggers memories for me is the scent of welding metal. Yes, it’s an odd scent! My dad is a steelworker. When I was younger, we would often bring him lunch at the foundry where he worked. I would go into the foundry to give him his meal. I didn’t realize that I had a scent memory until years later when my husband was working on a car and welding metal. Instantly I was brought back to that foundry in my hometown, walking into the building to bring lunch to my Daddy.
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