Can you smell that?

   To think of it, I know of no other sense that can evoke an emotion like smell can. Smell can make you lust in the form of a lover's cologne, smell can make you feel refreshed, a spring rain or wet pavement, smell can make you a child again, running through fresh cut grass. Even though I have just come to realize it, the idea of smell being powerful must have occurred to me ever since I was a child. There are some smells I associate with certain people. "Polo" always reminds me of my father, Mags is a smell you would find at Bath and Body Works or the like. Aloe reminds me of hot summers on South Padre Island that end with cutting a leaf off Grandma's and Papa's aloe plant. Clean, cool, soothing. 

     At some point this inspired me to have a "signature" smell.  You know, that smell that works so well for you that when anyone you know smells this smell, they automatically think of you. This is vapid and narcissistic I'm sure, but it's a nice thought. It works too, I still feel clean when I shave and put aloe one my face. Once my hands meet my nose, I still smell clean, even if I don't always feel that way inside and out. 

    Smell is one of the few things that can put a picture in my mind and an emotion in my heart. It's amazing to think that one instant, one little whiff, the mixture of garlic and tomato or soap and shampoo or baking chicken can do so much, and yet be something so ordinary and everyday.