What are the five best smells in the world? Why do they smell so good? Is it because of the fond memories that the scents provoke for us?
Sometimes it's hard to appreciate a thing before it's gone. That is the bright side of loss – its constant reminder of how good something you had might have been.
I don't know why exactly I lost my sense of smell. When you hit your brain too hard, certain things just change. It's not my nose that's the problem. My nose works fine. It's my injured brain. My brain can't activate enough with my senses. My brain cannot clearly interpret what it receives.
One of the smells I miss most is the smell of people. Ah, people! Do you know how many smells we exude? Now, I'm not being vulgar or uncouth. There are clearly some bad smells that I don't miss at all. (A fart by any other name…) But of all of the wonderful, positive smells a person can possess, I miss most the oddly neutral one. Body Odor! Something about B.O. accentuates and always reaffirms life. I miss smelling it in men, smelling it from my mother, and even smelling my own. Where's the goddamn affirmation that I exist?! Not in my own head, unfortunately. And although I am a spiritual person, it is actually from myself, not God, that I need that affirmation the most.
Oh, state fairs! Perhaps the first thing that we notice about the fair on a street is the wide display of aromas: Donuts and funnel cakes! Beer! Perfumes and sweat! I miss that recognition, and the memories of going to fairs in years past that it stirs and awakens when your sense of smell is activated.
As the brain tries to heal, my sense of smell tries to return. But it is off. It is new. The guessing of smells is like playing the old board game Clue all day, where you have to guess who did the murder in what room and with which weapon. (I believe the maid did it in the living room with a knife!)
But I am still a disabled player. I register about 15% of the smell of certain things, and the guessing game of scents is a gift that I'm lucky to play when it happens to occur. I probably win a new smell every three or four months. But it doesn't stay forever. It just comes for a certain moment, and then leaves again. And of course, I don't always win the game. My guesses are sometimes completely incorrect (I smell a fire and my husband tells me it's the smell of a skunk) or near, but not exact (a clerk mops a store floor, and to me, it smells as if the store was sprayed with air freshener). The win is the ability to play the game at all.
Treasures can be random and rare. Here have been my smelly treasures.
- All day there was this smell, like a fall and winter in Minnesota. Leaves, crispy and crunchy, and air filled with bursts of oxygen.
- The first rose, a large, yellow and pink and red one. The glorious smell of a strong rose!
- My favorite flower, the lavender. Grind it against my palms and rub, rub my palms together, and there it is, that herb!
- Mint on the tip of a very powerful lip balm.
- When my nose hairs stand tall due to sniffing right up to my nose a spicy Tabasco sauce. The relief that my nose is still affected by Tabasco is surprisingly delightful!
