Thursday, May 10, 2007

I remember that smell

I was mopping the kitchen floor today and instantly it brought back memories of working one summer at an MSU dorm cleaning dorm rooms. The smell of the cleaner was exactly the same as the cleaner we used in the dorm rooms. As you can imagine it brought back good (hanging out with Tess, playing Hearts on breaks, nap time when our supervisor was hung over from the night before) and bad memories (obviously dirty stinky dorm rooms).

We have all heard that smells are excellent at bringing back memories, and I started thinking about what smells always bring back memories for me. There are the obvious examples, baked foods at the holidays; flowers that are planted at your grandparent’s house....But I have two unusual ones, the smell of strawberry shortcake dolls and the liquid medicine for strep throat. Every now and then I will smell something that immediately reminds me of the strawberry shortcake dolls from my childhood. I can't describe the smell, maybe it was the plastic, the clothes, special marketing ploy, I don't know. I don’t remember smells from my cabbage patch kid dolls or transformers, just strawberry shortcake dolls.

The second is the smell of strep throat medicine, specifically the pink liquid. I had strep throat A LOT as a kid and took this medicine all the time. I immediately recognize the smell even though I haven't had the medicine in 20 years.

I'm sure you guys have similar experiences of the strange memories smells bring back.......

6 comments:

Animal said...

The instant you started talking about smell memory I could smell the little trash cans of Slime I loved as a kid. Play-dough too. But really, my friend Eric's childhood house...just a really distinct odor, not bad, but unique; I don't catch it often, but every once in awhile I'll be somewhere and something in the air will trigger that memory and I'll instantly be back to 1978...

L*I*S*A said...

The smell of Avon Silicone Glove lotion will ALWAYS remind me of my grandma...

Tess said...

I too have flashbacks to the summer we "cleaned" Case Hall whenever I get a whiff of Mr. Clean. This also happens with sights for me as well- whenever I SEE a box cutter razor blade, I am inundated with visions of trying to get..."goo" off of the walls of the dorm room. Not such a good memory.

I have a potpourri mix in a large bottle that has a rubber seal at the top. It sits on top of one of our music cabinets next to the piano. I inherited it from my Grandma Mimi. Whenever I open it up, it's like she's standing right next to me, and I am instantly teleported to her condo in DeWitt where we would probably be making something like kibbe or grape leaves.

Steph said...

I should probably just keep this one to myself, but the smell of Playtex scented tampons takes me straight back to ballet class in my early teens--or, to be more specific, the bathroom of the ballet studio. Tampons and tutus: a winning combo.

They put so much perfume in those suckers, all you have to do is walk past the feminine hygiene aisle to get a whiff.

Animal said...

Um...is it...you know, GOOD to put a scented tampon up your hooch?? Just askin'.

Steph said...

No, Scott. I'm quite sure it isn't. I have..ahem..since moved on to the unscented variety.