scent

The car beneath me is grumbling about the abuse of a 12 hour drive, and I am of a mind with it. So ready to get out of here. My two brothers and sister are probably the most annoying people on Earth, and by now my dad is so grouchy that everyone is silent for fear that he’ll decide to just turn around and drive back home. It’s happened before. We don’t want another 12 hours, so we stick to glaring and making mean hand signals. I pull out my portable CD player, possibly my most precious possession at 14. I flip through my CD’s, even though I already know what I’m going to pick. Two weeks before, for my birthday, I received a couple of fantastic presents. One was a large tube of Cucumber-Melon lotion, my favorite scent, and I wear it constantly. The second was a CD. The Madding Crowd by Nine Days. Not only am I completely in love with the CD itself, but I am even more in love with the boy who gave it to me. You see, it’s his fault that I nearly failed Algebra this past school year. All the note-passing and back-of-the-head staring. He was, and is still, very distracting. So it goes without saying that this is my favorite CD. I have a feeling I will still love it a decade from now. I plan to spend several hours listening to this, trying to ignore my family. We’re currently rolling through Southern California. We finally see Sea World on our right, and know that we’re close. We all start to get excited and happy, and my dad becomes marginally more cheerful (a very good sign), until our chatter makes him angry again. The rest of the silent ride is filled with our faces pressed to the window. We get to our beautiful beach house rental, and it is just spectacular. We run inside, and explore. After we’d settled in a bit, I peeked into the bathroom, since it wasn’t typically something one would be excited to explore. My eyes grow wide as I see the gorgeous skylight window above the toilet. I stand on the toilet and open the latch, throwing the window wide open. There is a fantastic view of the bay, the lazy sailboats, the smooth sand, and the smell…oh, the smell. I close my eyes and breathe deeply. The smell of the bright, sunshiny salt air mingled with my cucumber-melon lotion is the most refreshing scent I’ve ever experienced, and I know that one smell alone will remind me of this trip my entire life.

Scent: a) the faculty or sense of smell b) perception by the senses, feeling c) the odor of an animal or man as means of pursuit by a hound; hence a track or trail as indicated by this odor d) distinctive odor. Now applied almost exclusively to agreeable odors, e.g. those of flowers e) an odoriferous liquid prepared by distillation of flowers, etc.; a perfume

I’m sitting on the floor playing with a Christmas My Little Pony. She is white with a red mane and tail, and has a candy cane on her bum. Her name is Peppermint. Or Sugar. Or Candy. Or Melanie. I can’t decide. Mommy and Oma are sitting on the couch talking, while daddy is changing Taylor’s diaper. This is Christmas morning, and we’re waiting for daddy and Taylor to come back so we can open presents. Grandpa comes into the room and I run to give him a hug. That is to say, give his knees a hug. He takes my hand and we walk to his favorite recliner chair, the one he sits and watches football in. He lifts me onto his lap. I am very happy, because I love Christmas, and especially Christmas in California, because I love Grandpa’s house and his pretty trees and his waterslide and pool and his goldfish pond and the sunshine. Daddy carries Taylor back into the living room, and everyone gets excited because it’s time to open presents! I open lots of fun toys a 4 year old would like. I open a present that is a mermaid doll. She is so pretty, with beautiful yellow hair and a bright green, glittery tail. And the package says that she changes color in water! Her hair will change to yellow with streaks of pink and her tail turns a beautiful light pink color. I love her! She is from Santa! I get a present from Grandpa. I open it up. It is a Little Mermaid beauty set. I love mermaids! I saw the movie in theaters last year, when I was just three, and now that I am older I still like them a lot! There is a pretty pink comb in the kit, and a mirror, and nail polish, and a bottle of perfume. I stared at the kit for a while, not talking. My parents looked concerned, because I never stop talking and I never stand still and I am doing both. I reverently open the package. I look at the shiny pink mirror, then put it aside. I look at the sparkly nail polish, and vow to make mommy paint my nails later. I look at the pretty pink comb, and run it through my wild hair. It gets stuck. I leave it there. I take out the beautiful perfume bottle. I’ve never had one of those before. I open it up carefully, and put it to my nose. The smell is very light. Mommy says it smells like roses. I think it is my favorite smell in the whole world, and that Ariel MUST wear it too. Mommy shows me how to apply it to my wrists and neck. I feel beautiful. Grandpa beams with joy.

Smell: a) the sense of which the nose is the organ; the faculty of smelling b) that property of things which affects the olfactory organ, whether agreeably or otherwise; odor, perfume, aroma, stench, stink (olfactory: an organ of smell, the capacity for smelling) c) a trace, suggestion, or tinge of something, the special, indefinable, or subtle character of the object, event, etc., described

I like to sit outside in Autumn. September, October, those are my favorite months. I am outside, sitting on a blanket on the grass, in the shade. My typewriter is next to me, fresh sheet prepared, my dog laying in the sun, soaking up rays of sunshine. The raw, sharp scent of Autumn always makes me feel a mix of joy and melancholy. Joy, because it’s the perfect temperature, and the air is charged, the year is winding down, and there’s always the anticipation of my favorite holiday, Halloween. Melancholy, because Autumn is so short-lived and ephemeral, and I never seem to enjoy it enough before it is already gone with the first winter snowfall. So I am sitting outside, meditating and ruminating on the questions of life. I take a deep, deep, long breath of chill, refreshing air. There is a scent of the cycle of natural life taking its course. Things dying, things hibernating, things winding down. I can smell the decay of leaves, I can see the beautiful colors that you never get any other time of year, and I can feel the world preparing for the onslaught of winter. I never get tired of this scent or this feeling. It is too fleeting.