Songs and Smells.

So, they say that one of the most powerful triggers of memory is scent. For me, at least, it's true. If I catch a whiff of cologne that a boyfriend wore a decade ago it either makes me stabby and want to vom, or it makes me smile and remember what I was doing at that time in my life. Cool Water, Navy and Love's Baby Soft all send me back to sniffing the pages of Seventeen magazine in Jr. High. Cigarette smoke used to remind me of my grandparents that I never got to see since they lived in Mississippi and I in Washington. It's all I really had to tie to them. Any time I smell the cool ocean breeze, I feel home again. Same goes for fresh mountain air and rain. Oh God, rain! What better scent is there than fresh rain soaked earth? Or even rain on the asphalt? It doesn't take much for me, people.

Music does it for me, too. Anything from the grunge era sends me straight back to Seattle and the protection of my youth. Every time I hear Smells Like Teen Spirit I remember sitting outside of Bartell's in my mom's baby blue Subaru station wagon (state car of Washington) and hearing it for the first time. It also transports me back to sitting outside of Costco in that same station wagon and hearing of Kurt's death years later. What is it with me sitting in the car?? Obviously, I need to revisit that... Early 2000's techno puts me right back in the Lizard Lounge writhing with all of the other hot, sweaty bodies on the dance floor. These are good memories.

What smells and sounds trigger memories for you?