Scent of a Grandma

We spent last weekend back in Nebraska. We went to visit because it was close to Jupiter's cousin, Ryland's, third birthday and we thought it would be nice celebrate with him.

While we were there I started paying attention to smells. Particularly, in this case, the smell of the laundry detergent caught my attention. I never noticed the difference between scented and unscented laundry detergent growing up, but since we use scent free laundry detergent at home, I am now noticing it.

My mother happened to wash some of our clothes while we were staying at her and my father's house for the weekend. Our packing job was somewhat sporadic due to some unexpected health issues, so we needed to do some washing. My mother, being the extremely gracious host she is, would not let us spend our limited time doing laundry, so she offered to wash a few things.

She washed my son's pajamas because we did not pack more than one set. Then, while I was out doing something else, Chris gave her my jeans to wash. I do not wash my jeans as much as conventional wisdom tells me I should. I happen to like a particular amount of grime to stay with my jeans and only wash them when it seems absolutely necessary. It had not gotten to that point yet here. Not only did my jeans loose the grime, but now they had a fresh scent too.

All this did not bother me too much. I do not have a problem living with jeans that have a slight scent of going through my mom's laundry. It makes me think of the past a bit more, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. It actually got me thinking about how smells can help persuade our actions.

When I started dating Chris, once in awhile I got a scent from her that brought nostalgia into my mind. It was somewhat reminiscent of my late grandma. It was not that Chris smelled like my grandma. It was just a scent that reminded me of her.

I would only smell it once in a while. I do not know if it is the perfume she chose, the way she did her laundry, or something else altogether, but it was a good thing in a strange way. It was a smell that gave off familiarity. It made probably helped make me feel more comfortable around her. More like I could just relax and be me.

Coincidentally, that is one thing about her that lead me to want to marry her. The fact that she likes who I am without me trying to be someone else. All the failed relationships before her failed because I was trying to be someone that someone else wanted me to be. Chris knows all the good and the bad that I am and wants me to continue to be me whoever that might be or turn into.

I wonder how much the familiarity of scent guides us when looking for relationships of any sort. Whether it be romantic, friendship, family, or casual acquaintance. I know that sometimes I will smell the scent of my grandma or grandpa on a complete stranger and feel like I can connect with that person in some small way immediately.