The Scent of Love

My mom celebrated her 60th birthday last month and I made her a scrapbook. On one of the pages, I asked my sister and brothers to write down a special memory of her. When it was my turn to come up with something, all I could think of was the way my mom smelled.

A lot of my memories are tied to scent. When I was in the hospital after giving birth, I caught a whiff of something that reminded me of the time I visited a friend in the hospital after he had been stabbed.

Whenever I smell a certain cologne, it reminds me of a friend from high school who committed suicide. Every time I smell certain flowers, I'm brought back to his funeral.

So when I started thinking of my mom, I thought of things like the way the kitchen floor used to smell like Pine Sol every weekend. The smell of Vicks ~ she would rub it on my chest when I was sick. The smell of nail polish.

Just recently I thought about how my girls will think of me. What will stick out in their mind? Will it be the times we make chocolate chip cookies from scratch and end up eating more of the dough than the actual cookies?

Will it be the stories we make up or the silly games we play in the car on the long trip to grandma's house?

Will it be the things I taught them like how to pump their legs on the swings or how to color in the lines?

Do I have a certain smell? Will Julianna be reminded of her mommy when she catches a whiff of cocoa butter? What things will take her back to her childhood while she's busy growing up?