Ghost smells

A few years ago I was shopping in Pier 1, when I found a candle that smelled EXACTLY like my grandmother. It was extremely creepy. The instant I picked it, I thought of her. A little funny right?

Well, she died when I was 7.

It was just BIZARRE that 20-some years later, I would still remember what someone SMELLED like.

So naturally, I bought about 6 of the candles and Brandon thought I was crazy. :-P

It's funny what we remember about people, what sticks in our memory. I remember how she let me eat bread drizzled in honey, even though I made a mess. How we used to water color and sticks notes through the floor boards into the basement (there was this tiny spot where the boards didn't meet the toe kick, and you could drop pieces of paper through the slit). And I remember how she used to play the piano and we'd sing.

Even the piano smells "different" sometimes. I can't even explain it. It just sits in our living room, and I can walk past it a hundred times, but sometimes if I sit down on the bench, it SMELLS like it used to smell in her house.

Isn't it odd how a smell can trigger a memory? And isn't it even more odd when we're the only one that can detect it? Because even if I bring it to someone else's attention, they can never smell what I do.

A few minutes ago, I was pinning minky blankets for the show in the basement. For about 10 seconds, my nose was flooded with a smell of cologne and baby powder.

I smelled my dad.

Who also died when I was 7.

:::insert creepy music:::

I was in my BASEMENT. In a house that has existed only since 2006, and my father obviously never set foot in. And this was NOT Brandon's cologne. It smelled like my dad, back in 1986, a mix of cologne, and the baby powder he used to put on his prosthetic leg.

Creepy, but strangely comforting.