Blog Challenge -- Childhood Smells

On the wonderful board I frequent (read: spend waaaaaay too much time browsing), there is a weekly blog challenge. I enjoy reading the results, but haven't thought much about joining in... until now. This week's challenge:

I read recently that our sense of smell is much stronger than we realize. For many people a specific scent can trigger nostalgic memories from years and years ago. For others, a whiff of a specific scent or odor for that matter can bring back awful memories.

Is there a scent that does this for you? Talk to me about smells that you remember, from childhood, your teenage years, or even more recently, and be sure to tell of what these scents mean to you when they resurface in your life now.

I chose to jump in on this challenge because my sense of smell is incredibly important to me. Smells are inextricably tied in with my memories -- one whiff of a certain scent, and I am transported back in time to exact moments.

It is said that women have a better sense of smell than men. If that's so, then I am alllll woman, baby! :) I am constantly discovering things with my nose that other people don't notice. At one of the animal hospitals where I worked, the head vet also had a good nose. Oftentimes, he would call me over, "Smell this." The rest of the staff would look at us like we were n.u.t.s., but we were able to distinguish smells that others could not. I even found that I could tell if a puppy had parvovirus by the distinct odor of their... ewwww, this is probably way too gross to share. Sorry!

ANYway, a childhood smell...

Ok, one immediately jumps to mind. When I was growing up, many families put plastic slipcovers on their furniture to protect the fabric. Our family was NOT one of them. However, dear friends of ours not only had plastic slipcovers on the couches, but plastic runners down the hallways to protect the carpeting. So, even though that was many many years ago, any time I smell that strong, distinctive plastic odor, I immediately jump back in time to their house.

How do I feel when this happens? I don't mind. I like having that little memory "trigger." We lost touch with that family many years ago, so I honestly wouldn't be thinking of them, otherwise.

Of course, there are scent memories that are bad... especially one perfume that drags up alot of evil times... but I still don't mind. It's part of who I am.

Just call me the Human Bloodhound!

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