Aroma Therapy seems completely logical to me, except for the fact that the type of associative memory smells they sell on drug store shelves are rather obtuse.  How many people grew up with vanilla bean, peppermint and jasmine floating through their windows – all at the same time?  More scents that make sense to me would be something akin to Chocolate Cupcakes or Chicken Noodle Soup.  Just be careful not to slurp down the bubble bath or gobble up the candle.

Smellory packs a big punch, especially if you’re blindsided by it.  A few days back I was setting up an event at a local casino and needed to get a vendor’s badge.  Security was located in a small trailer in the back parking lot.  I knocked on the door, walked in and was immediately transported to Montana. 

This strange little outbuilding didn’t have a very pleasant aroma, and neither did the cabin on Lake Mary Ronan where we spent our summer vacations.  The mind works in mysterious ways and instead of wrinkling my nose and wanting to open all the windows, my cerebellum took a little mini-vacation and sat me in front of plates of corn on the cob, fresh fried trout and cherry pie.

Reminiscent nosegays stir things up for everyone, and we all have faves – spaghetti sauce, chocolate chip cookies, BBQ’s, bacon and eggs, soup and anything roasting in an oven.  I’m the first to roll down the window when passing a bakery or a rib joint. 

Happenstance not withstanding, we often attempt to recreate these enticing fragrances and enhance our encounters with them. For example: spaghetti and meatballs on the stove AND Frank Sinatra work simultaneously to beam me over to that parallel universe and Friday nights in my parents’ kitchen.

There are also those heady perfumes which lead us into the depths of our gray matter that aren’t necessarily associated with food: sea air, sprinklers, sun tan oil, Colorado, lilacs, rain, clean sheets, diesel fuel, the dairy barn, pine trees and baby powder.

Even people smells trigger flashbacks; my late grandmother drops in quite frequently to say hello.  She wafts by most often when I’m doing laundry or oddly enough, shopping at the Mall.  My daughter wears my sweaters when I’m not at home and I inhale her hair when I kiss her goodnight.

Smellory is a powerful, glorious thing!  It is an instantaneous remembrance in the mind’s eye, a salve for the soul and the inspiration for letters to friends.  As for Montana, should you ever get the chance to rent Cabin #6 at Lake Mary Ronan Resort, see if you can spot the “Simpson7” engraved upon the wall – I was there and its aroma is pure therapy.