Dear Scent,

You're taken for granted. And that's unfortunate. You might be my favorite sense. Well, behind sight and sound. But still! You're top three buddy. And I really appreciate you for what you do. You've been on my mind a lot lately. Generally no one takes notice of you unless you're really good... or really bad. And that's what I'd like to talk about.

I really like scent because I seem to have many memories tied to it. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Surely you've smelled something and all the sudden you're thinking about something you haven't thought of in a long time. Isn't that interesting? One of my best personal examples is a perfume used by a teacher of mine from way back in the day, maybe kindergarten. Whenever I smell it I'm immediately transported back to being a young child sitting in a dull room. It's not the best journey, but it's nostalgic now. If I knew the name of the scent and had a dating profile that'd probably be #1 on my list of "please no one with this". Of course there are good things too, my Aunt Martha has always used a similar laundry detergent. Whenever I smell that I think of going over to Will and Jack's to play.

During my time abroad I've had some pretty funny scent based moments. In a post from Iceland I mentioned smelling like a dog and not noticing until I got into the car with our friendly Eskimos' lady. My nylon shell pants still smell quite dog like even after all this time and all this washing. Another dog related scent: raw meat puke. Charming isn't it? I thought so too. Thank you Anubis for the lovely treat. You've burned yourself into my memory indefinitely. And finally, my gloves. Which still hold the fishy scent of the kibble we fed the crew. Yum. Of course sometimes we produce smells of our own. Poor Anna suffered a chemical attack in the Oslo train station as I removed my sweater which had been holding in, apparently, quite a stench. Sorry about that! But we had been in the Norwegian wilderness for quite some time with no bath. It was all part of becoming one with the land. Also let's consider it a bit of payback for your wet running shoes which had acquired a lovely aroma while stashed away in the rental car.

Back to my sweater... there's that wooly smell. Which is neither good not bad. But something I distinctly know. It's only obvious when you've been moving around a bit. The wool seems to warm up, or something. Which reminds me of the taste-smell relationship. I ate a cheese once that I described as "like my wool sweater", strangely folks seemed to not eat much more after that. Guess that's not a good example. But luckily for you I do have a few. Again in Norway there was a perfumey wood, it reminded Anna of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood". The smell of wood in general is comforting. Splitting wood in Somerset or peeling bark, working in the woodpile here in Nethy, and the smell of a fire. We'd often have fires back in Mocksville, and the smell of a wood fire is friendly.

And then there's what I've come to think of as "the smell of adventure". What does adventure smell like? Speed Stick - Regular Scent deodorant. Next time you're in the store meander by the deodorant section and inhale some adventure. Why do I think that? Because that's the only deodorant I've ever worn outside the US. In Peru I had it because it was one of the few deodorants sold in a small package. Same reason I've had it with me here in Europe. Which may say something, that a small deodorant has lasted me six months. It's not often I need to smell "good". In the woods no one cared. Except maybe Anna. But now the Regular Speed Stick scent is embedded in my mind right next to memories of foreign places.

The mind is an odd thing. Like how this whole post was spurred on by me putting on deodorant and thinking "Ahhh, adventure". Even though I was really just heading to the Lazy Duck to do some laundry. Which smells fantastic by the way. Anyway, get out there and do some sniffing. And don't forget to thank your nose every now and then. Even if it gets you into something very unfortunate. Looking at you Anubis.

Sincerely,
Zeb

Other Smells I Love:
Fresh mountain air
Crisp mornings
Snow
Vanilla
Books
Flowers at night in Spring
Sunscreen (A woman in a shop I stopped at on a ride once told me I smelled like Summer.)
A pack of Pokemon cards
Apples
Fresh cut grass
Coffee (Even though I don't really drink it.)
Cedar
Tomatoes

And much more.