I agree with reports which claim that our sense of smell is closely linked to memory (the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area associated with memory and emotion). I see things all the time that are related to my childhood here, twenty years ago, and distantly recall it from my past but a smell can send me hurtling through time and space.
This weekend I had two very evocative moments related to scents. I smelled something in the Wanchai market that caused me to shrink into the body of a four year old girl walking through the market in Iloilo with a banana leaf wrapped sweet in her hand. The caramelized sticky rice treat was probably the most delicious thing I had ever tasted at the time.
Then later that day as I was returning home a not so pleasant smell really sent me reeling. I can't describe the smell- probably something related to old, musty buildings. What I can describe is the uncanny amount of recollection I experienced. The smell was that of my second ever apartment that I lived in for two years while I was in San Antonio. But it was so much more than that. In that instant I was reminded of myself at the age of twenty having just gone through a terrible experience that I won't go into detail about but when I moved into the apartment I was sad and lost and yet hopeful all at the same time. It was the beginning of a time of major transformation for me when I went through the trauma of growing up alone but also somehow evolved into something wiser, stronger and better than what I was. I don't know if I became who I am because of life's hard knocks or in spite of it. Somehow there was enough Pollyanna and enough Candide to power me through the hills and troughs until I learned to stop getting carried away by my life and start living on my own terms.
So to me of yesteryears I am so happy to have met up with you again but I am even happier that you are behind me because those were some damn crazy years, both good and bad, and I prefer to remember you than to relive you.
This weekend I had two very evocative moments related to scents. I smelled something in the Wanchai market that caused me to shrink into the body of a four year old girl walking through the market in Iloilo with a banana leaf wrapped sweet in her hand. The caramelized sticky rice treat was probably the most delicious thing I had ever tasted at the time.
Then later that day as I was returning home a not so pleasant smell really sent me reeling. I can't describe the smell- probably something related to old, musty buildings. What I can describe is the uncanny amount of recollection I experienced. The smell was that of my second ever apartment that I lived in for two years while I was in San Antonio. But it was so much more than that. In that instant I was reminded of myself at the age of twenty having just gone through a terrible experience that I won't go into detail about but when I moved into the apartment I was sad and lost and yet hopeful all at the same time. It was the beginning of a time of major transformation for me when I went through the trauma of growing up alone but also somehow evolved into something wiser, stronger and better than what I was. I don't know if I became who I am because of life's hard knocks or in spite of it. Somehow there was enough Pollyanna and enough Candide to power me through the hills and troughs until I learned to stop getting carried away by my life and start living on my own terms.
So to me of yesteryears I am so happy to have met up with you again but I am even happier that you are behind me because those were some damn crazy years, both good and bad, and I prefer to remember you than to relive you.
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