Tuesday, November 20, 2012

What Love Smells Like...

This is a verbatim conversation I had with Luke as we walked home tonight:

Luke: Mummy, do you hug and kiss the kids you work with?
Me: I sure do.
Luke: Do you love them?
Me: I do.
Luke: It's 'cause you practice all your love on us right?
Me: Maybe.
Luke: I bet they liked it today. You smell good today. Yesterday, you didn't smell right at all.
Me: That's weird. What did I smell like yesterday?
Luke: The wrong shampoo and rumbly sweaters.



I'll admit it -  this little gem of a conversation has touched me deeply. I love that he's OK sharing his mama's love with other kids because he knows that all of it comes from loving him and Matthew.

It's how I shared my parents with hundreds of children over the course of their careers and I am thrilled that, in this at least, I have managed give to my children what they gave to me:

Familiar, comforting, predictable, growing and deeply-rooted love.

And that Luke is so tactile and scent-sitive, well, that just plain delights me. It makes me wonder how the rest of the world smells to him and if he could bottle up his favourite scents, what would they be?

What does love smell like to you?
Do you associate certain scents with a person or place?

13 comments:

  1. Wood shavings (my Dad), Pipe tobacco (my Grampa), Ben-gay (my Granny), fresh bread (my Mom), wood stove (Grandparents house), Golden retriever (my stinky puppy), Johnson's baby shampoo/baby powder (my boys from day gone by) .... Axe body spray (my boys now - ICK!!!)

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  2. Ooooh, Johnson's shampoo gets me, too! Axe...ick. Poor you. Whoever invented that stuff should be shot...or forced to wear it. Ha!

    Funny isn't it, how strong memories smell?

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  3. The smell of rightGuard and irish spring my Dad flecy Grandma Gordie

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    1. Oh, I love this Jamie. My young Luke looks so much like your dad did, as a boy. I love that your scent association is so yummy.

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  4. I sometimes associate smells w colours. For example I used to know a guy who smelled "brown". Not a bad stool brown. Like maybe wood and fresh turned earth. But mostly just brown. Welcome to my brain.
    My dad used to work in a cardboard factory, my sister and I remember smelling his shirts when he came home. All my nephews have their own smells. Especially on their little heads. I've met people who smelled "wrong" to me. I stay away from those people.
    I've been known to lose my mind if my house smells dirty.
    I guess I kind of have a sensory thing w smell.
    *sigh*

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  5. Nurse Jen, I get it. I "see" emotion in colours, in my head. It's hard to explain, but colours sort of dance around in my mind when I'm feeling something very strongly. Sometimes when I see a strong emotion cross another person's face, I see the colours, too.

    So, this makes weirdly total sense to me. "I stay away from those people." That cracks me up. You and Luke'd get along juuust fine!

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    1. I have a coworker who hit her head and lost her sense if smell. It would be like learning to walk all over again trying to adjust....

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  6. The scent of shaving cream -- preferably Barbasol -- and Lavoris mouthwash. Soft kisses from my dad after he was freshly showered.

    Matzah ball soup is love from my mother come down from her mother to me. It connects us and smells like home.

    I loved seeing this on FB and I'm so glad you turned it into a post. Your reds are something else. Sorry about that rumbly sweater. ;)

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    1. I couldn't not post it here, Renee - it's just too delicious. Besides, when the children show their therapists this blog, it's all right here - no hynotheraphy needed...

      Matzah ball soup - I've only had it once, but loved it. Great smell. Thanks for sharing, my friend!

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  7. Crisp leaves, cedar woodsmoke, boiling maple sap, old furs, dog, and the metallic air that comes only from being surrounded by ancient cast-iron. That collective smell is my whole family.

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    1. Wow, Trevor - what a picture you've painted, with words. I can almost smell the love. Beautiful, fragrant memories. Thanks for sharing them here!!!

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  8. When my dudes were little, I used to spray my perfume on their loveys. Not long ago, when the Little Dude was sick, he asked me to make his pillow "smell like mom."

    I never really had a specific thing that smelled like love to me, but I'm so happy that my boys do.

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  9. Oh, Lisha...this is lovely. What a wondrous scent-filled love you've given them. Thank you for sharing it here, too!

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