Bloganuary – Day 16

Do you have a memory that’s linked to a smell?

I’ve always been aware of the deep emotional connection between the olfactory and memory and there are many smells that evoke memories for me.

First and foremost, the heady smell of a red rose reminds me of my mother.

Other smells that immediately spring to mind are:

• Celery sauteing – my mother cooking in the kitchen.
• Chanel No 5 – spending time with my grandmother’s best friend.
• Lavender soap – being in hospital following the birth of our first baby.
• An opened tube of acrylic paint – everything about the art room in high school.

(I could go on, but I’d rather talk about my heightened sense of smell.)

–⋅ o ♥ o ⋅–

Years ago, when I was working on the eighth floor of a high-rise building in the middle of the city, I could smell smoke. It was a combination of burnt toast and a lit match and I found it overpowering. I asked others in the (large open-planned) office if they could smell anything and walked around sniffing the air trying to identify the source of the unsavoury odour.

I then approached my boss to raise my concerns. He asked a few others if they could smell anything, but, as they couldn’t, my boss merely thought I was mentally unbalanced. (I think he used the word crazy to describe me in front of some co-workers.)

As much as I was becoming concerned (ok, anxious) regarding what I could smell, I was told to return to my desk and stop disrupting others.

By now I thought it smelt like baking paper burning in an oven.

My instincts were on edge and I should have paid attention to them, but I didn’t. I was new to this job and wanted to sail through my probation and lock in secure employment.

I went back to work and convinced myself my mind (or my nose) was playing tricks on me.

Moments after I settled at my desk, the alarms went off. There was no ‘Beep Beep’ to indicate that you were to prepare to evacuate. Oh, no!

The alarm went straight to the ‘Whoop, Whoop’ sound which means evacuate immediately.

Thankfully, nobody ignored the building’s fire emergency system and the crazy lady with the heightened sense of smell was vindicated due to a fire in the kitchen two floors up.

One clever person had placed a sandwich in a toaster and forgotten about it. The sandwich was (or had been) wrapped in grease-proof paper.

These days I know better than to question my sense of smell.

–⋅ o ♥ o ⋅–

A huge thank you to Dezzie who was motivated by my lack of inspiration yesterday.

This is the beautiful comment I received:

I did not have a thing to say.

The very thought bought such dismay.

But share I did of my distress,

and found a friend that I could bless.

This made my day.

–⋅ o ♥ o ⋅–

Read more about Bloganuary here.