What smells trigger your memories?

I was stumbling around the kitchen after sleeping way to late in the morning and opened the Starbucks Coffee. The smell came out and wafted around me, immediately I was taken back to good memories, pre-k memories (pre kids) when my husband and I would travel out to Seattle and visit with family.

Most say it’s a song that brings back visuals, others it’s a taste; to me it’s a smell. I get snapshots of feelings with pictures in my head when a smell triggers a memory. They are more intense that me trying to tell someone a memory, it is like time opens up and for a split second I am back there feeling what I was feeling at the time. I’m a little sad when the memory disappears as quickly as it came and I’m back to sipping the coffee thinking about what just happened.

There are sweet memories with smells, rose milk my grandmother used to wear (I wore it and got stung by two bees), Love’s Baby Soft and fuzzy sweaters and first kisses, Origins Ginger Essence and my Mom, Burt Bees Baby Shampoo and watching children splash in the tub. There’s also the hospital smell and saying goodbye, the smell of lilies and my Dad’s funeral. I’ll go back to honeysuckle and lying by the fence sucking on those tender flowers anyday.

I’ve got a bottle of Love’s Baby Soft sitting in my medicine cabinet and find that whenever I’m feeling down, I’ll pull that bottle out put in on and instantly there’s a smile on my face as I’m transported back in time for that split second! What smells trigger memories for you?