Warm. Safe. Comfortable. I promise you, we can smell those things.
I’m no scientist, so I do not know why, but aromas affect us and stay in our thoughts so much longer than anything else. The memories that a nose collects are more deeply etched, more permanent and poignant than those collected by the eye or the ear.
I’ve even thought how it would be so awesome if one could paint a picture with only smells.
My grandpa’s portrait would be of tobacco smoke, fall leaves, sweet, ripe persimmons, coffee, wool—that’s Grandpa!
My elementary school could be “painted” with the smell of paste, new crayons, lunchroom corn and hot rolls, cold playground air, and snowy rubber boots.
And The Fowler General Store? A vivid portrait of warm, safe, and comfortable. Hot apple bread right out of the oven, peanut butter cookies, freshly ground coffee beans; and then of course, the focal point of Thursday’s and Saturday’s portrait would be the smell of a good Sunday dinner: Pot Roast!
A nose knows home.
-Rebecca Coursen