The Memory of Smell

I was sitting in Panera  having some lunch and minding my own business when all of a sudden a very familiar smell enveloped me.  I looked up to see an elderly lady sitting at a table beside me. She was eating her bowl of soup and minding her own business but I was no longer able to mind mine.  She smelled just like my Grandmother.  Isn’t it funny how something as simple as a smell can instantly transport you to another place, another time?

White Shoulders Perfume & Dusting Powder. Pink containers in a pink box. It was my Grandmother’s signature scent for as long as I can remember.  For her birthday every year, it gave me great joy to go to the fragrance counter at McAlpin’s Department Store and pick out a gift set containing a bottle of perfume and a box of dusting powder.  The case was just my height and I searched until my eyes landed on the pink prize. She always seemed surprised and immediately sprayed herself generously.

The powder puff with its pink satin ribbon seemed as big as my face and I was entranced with its feel as well as its smell.  I sprayed and puffed each time I went into her bathroom (which was also pink in every way).  I wonder if we had to drive home with the windows down just so my mother could breathe? 

 I am grateful. Grateful for a Grandmother who loved me and accepted my gifts with love.  Grateful for her life spent working hard for her family. Grateful for the things I was allowed to do with her that I was not allowed to do at home.  I am grateful for the memory of smell and for the dear lady at Panera who reminded me. I hope she has a granddaughter.