Smells

Today I felt the need to see my parents again. Thankfully, they were available, and I picked up some Rainbow Cafe food (our favorite) on the way there. We hugged and talked and laughed at Everybody Love's Raymond together. That's what life is all about. I especially enjoy my relationship with my parents. They are great, loving, and Godly people.

Before I left I helped them start the movie (at the theatre they own and live above), and standing in the entryway I smelled the strange mix of popcorn, warm radiator vent, and other theatre smells. To me, that is home. That smell reminds me of many good things. It reminds me of my parents popcorn, which is the best in the business. It reminds me of the night Grumpy Old Men played and the line was down the street. It reminds me of sitting there and enjoying the movie, and taking tickets, and how much I love meeting new people. Of the dignity and pride I felt in knowing that it somehow belonged to me. But mostly, it reminded me of the love of my parents. Funny.

I had a teacher once who named off, "gasoline, tobacco smoke, dirty oil, roast beef" in class to start a lesson. After we were thoroughly sure it smelled nasty he told us it was the smell of his parent's house (and my Grandparents, consequently). They were farmers, and had gasoline and dirty oil on their clothes, a roast in the oven, and his dad smoked a tobacco pipe. After he said that I remembered the smells at my Grandma and Grandpa Hawley's house and decided he's right- those are great smells, and even better mixed together. Not because they inherantly are, but because my mind created a relationship between those smells and the rest, love, peace, and warmth of that place.

Dear reader, I pray that every smell you encounter in life is filled with great memories.