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Magical Moment 541, "My Best Smelling Memory"

Just like music or a specific location, certain smells can bring a flood of memories to mind. I never told anyone but Eddie this, because I was afraid it was too weird (which Eddie assured me that it in fact is too weird), but my favorite smell from childhood is...cigarette smoke.

I was born in Lincoln, NE in 1983, where the middle class smoked. If you asked someone in a restaurant or bar to put out their cigarette, you'd probably get punched in the face. Everyone knew smoking was generally bad for you, but the reality of just how bad hadn't quite set in yet. 

My family lived in my grandparent's house for a few years when I was little, where their home was the hub of all extended family gatherings. My dad smoked, both grandparents, and so did all the uncles. (I am proud to say that my dad and grandma haven't smoked for a good decade and a half or more, and most of the family has quit since as well). But, unarguably, the smell was always around. 

To this day, I love that smell!!! Weird, I know. I don't love the way my hair smells later, or how my coat lingers of the stagnant smell. But I love the way that fresh puff fills my nostrils. Calm down, I don't smoke. But when I'm walking down the sidewalk and someone is outside taking a break, it just makes me remember so many things from my childhood.

I have a neighbor who lives in the downstairs apartment. She steps outside every now then to light up, and the smoke wafts up to the second floor, and through the cracks in our crummy living room window. "Ahhhh," I sigh to Eddie.
"She's outside again." I say as I become nostalgic.


What's your favorite childhood smell? Is it as weird as cigarette smoke?


*photo from here

Comments

Birdie said…
I can't say I can relate to this post! lol
All my family smoked and I hated it and I still do. I am an avid anti-smoking advocate.
I do love the smell of my nana's perfume and Yardley's lavender soap.
Dawn said…
Thats funny. Ive never heard of that being a favorite smell before:)
Its true though....smells evoke memories like crazy. I don't know if I have a favorite.....but a lot of smells out there take me back!
I, too, grew up in a house filled with cigarette smoke. But I can't say I like any aspect of it today. My favorite childhood smell was probably the smell of baking chocolate chip cookies. :)
TexWisGirl said…
it would have to be my mother's chicken cooking in the pressure cooker. best ever...
Steve Gravano said…
I agree with Eddie! But I do understand how the smell brings back memories. For me it's baking and chicken soup. My mom and dad loved to make homemade chicken soup. The chicken carcass would be boiling on the stove top for hours. Cookies baking always remind me of the holidays. When the boys were young, I tried to recreate that by always baking with them at Christmas time.
holy cats! Elizabeth, i was born in Lincoln, Nebraska too!
Anonymous said…
This is an awesome post. It shares something unusual and causes the reader to reflect. Fun seeing the comments too. Thank you for the good read and for taking me back to the smell of homemade bread when I walked in the door from school.

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