While I was writing that last blog entry about Memorial Day, I started thinking about “remembering” in general. It’s interesting to me that a lot of my memories are tied to other senses. When I hear a song, smell a certain smell, or taste a certain taste, I am instantly transported back to another time and place.  It’s always unexpected, and it always puts a smile on my face. So, I thought I’d share a few of the ones that come to my mind on a regular basis.

The smell of a fresh cut grass takes me back to the yards of my childhood where my brothers and I would play until the sun dipped well below the horizon and my dad would whistle loudly to tell us it was time to come home.

I always eat cheap, frozen fish sticks with ketchup and a smile on my face, because I’m instantly transported back to my childhood.

Whenever I hear Billy Joel’s “My Life” on the radio, I remember sitting on my mother’s bed early in the morning at our house on Bluebell Lane. If I close my eyes, I can see the block, flip-card numbers on the clock and feel the hustle and bustle of my mother trying to get ready to go to her teaching job.

The smell of Barbosol shaving cream or English Leather takes me back to a time I sat in a steamy bathroom and watched in awe as my father shaved his face.

The song “It takes Two” by Rob Base will transport me back to high school instantly, and the song “Plush” by the Stone Temple Pilots trasnports me to those cool Fall nights in my Fort Sanders apartment during my college days.

Strawberry jelly and flat Coke will always remind me of my grandmother on my mother’s side. When I eat strawberry jelly, I always think that it’s not as good as my grandmother’s, and when I drink flat Coke, It reminds me of digging the 2 liter bottle out of her refrigerator, knowing that it was going to taste awful, because she didn’t drink it and it had probably been open for a while.

The smell of summer rain evaporating from pavement instantly puts me back in the garage with my brothers waiting for the driveway of our house on West Park Drive to dry, so we could take our bikes out again.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. These are my memories – attached to my senses – and I hope I never lose them. They always put an unexpected smile on my face. Have a happy Memorial Day folks, and relish those memories as they come.