Evoking Memories
Posted on April 7, 2008 - Filed Under Personal |
When I was a little girl, about 8 or 9, I had really bad eczema on my hands. It was so bad that the knuckles would crack open and bleed and nothing we tried worked to stop it. It was painful and itchy and I hated it, but learned to live with it.
Then one day we were visiting my paternal grandmother and she took one look at my hands and prescribed an overnight treatment. She pulled out this huge tub of slimy yellow cream, slathered about a gallon of it on my hands, put cotton gloves on me and that´s how I slept every night that I was at her house.
When we left, she gave me the tub of cream and by the time it was empty, my hands were completely healed! I didn´t have any issues with eczema again and had pretty much forgotten the whole thing . . . until about 6 months ago.
Irving bought me some facial cream that I wanted from Avon. The second I opened the lid, the smell hit me and flooded me with memories of those nights with sticky cotton-covered hands and the care that my grandmother took to cover my bleeding knuckles with that cream. I really don´t know if this is the same stuff or not, it´s quite possible, but it smells EXACTLY the same!
Isn´t it funny how a smell can bring back a memory from 2 decades ago? It makes me wonder what smells my boys will remember when they are grown with families of their own.
Do you have a memory associated with smells? I´d love to hear it!
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3 Responses to “Evoking Memories”
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It is amazing that a smell can remind you of distant memories. I have the same with a plant, that reminds me of summer holidays on the coast at my nan’s place… That would be nearly 30 years ago!
It can also be sounds… I really like the sound of an old steam engine as well… Not that I remember them, they were phased out of the train system by the time I was born, but it still reminds me of good times we had going to the train museum and riding on them!
Your post alone evokes so many memories for me! I am such a sensory creature and have been most of my life. Scents and sounds especially stick with me for years and years. The keys of certain songs will remind me of times in my life, and scents will often bring back memories as well. Until this day, there are certain colognes that will always remind me of my ex’s. Crazy!
Thanks so much for sharing
Schools. I walk through the hallways in my son’s school and the smell is the same from my own school days.
I also love the smell of burning leaves. I associate it with the fall~ back to school, halloween & bonfires, roasting marshmellows and telling stories.