dagblog - Comments for "The Scent Of Time"

This comment from the Times

barefooted — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 01:16:35 +0000

In reply to Well, it's all inter-related

This comment from the Times article to which I linked stuck with me:

I was in middle school and our English teacher had us close our eyes and she passed down the row holding something under each of our noses. Then we were to write the first thing that popped in our minds. I smelled something I didn't recognize but the image of a specific chair in my grandmother's house immediately came to mind, so I wrote about a brown rocking chair. When we finished, she revealed it had been tobacco leaves in a pouch - the kind for a pipe. I was totally confused. Later that evening I shared this with my parents. "Oh yeah, you used to sit in Papa's lap while he packed his pipe. That was his chair." Papa died when I was three - but that smell was stuck in my brain with that chair.

J. Miller

That's the sort of thing I was referring to with my story, even though it was completely different. Aren't they all?

Well, it's all inter-related

artappraiser — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 01:06:18 +0000

In reply to It's funny - my writing seems

Well, what I think is that it's all inter-related in a way. First I think of how the whole aromatherapy thing works on us. Then I've read many things from the neurology field how the minds of Alzheimers patients can be accessed via sense memories, most memorably I remember Oliver Sacks talking about music effects. Then there's that we associate sense memories with Mom because she's usually the main one loving us when our brains and neurological systems are still growing and developing. And vicey versa, she knows she did that and she no doubt remembers it in her soul, watching the kids grow and develop and knowing she could have an effect, and getting frustrated when she couldn't. And how something as simple as a scent can take us back in time, hopefully to a time when we felt the ultimate in safeness and comfort. Etc.

It's funny - my writing seems

barefooted — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 00:02:10 +0000

In reply to A certain scent or a certain

It's funny - my writing seems to have lead more folks to think of either Moms or Alzheimers, or both. Neither of which was really the point ... but I find it interesting that as is often the case, it's the little things that seem to capture the attention of the reader. I mentioned her (then undiagnosed) issues with memory as what I though of as an aside, and that it was about my Mom was just because that was my particular story. Likely my own fault since I've written about both before, but I'm somewhat bemused nonetheless. Oh, well.

Here's a wish for you to remember your Mom on her upcoming birthday as you surely do every other day of the year, however that may be. And as all wishes go, may you be blessed by it ... this one belongs to you, my friend.

A certain scent or a certain

wabby — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 14:08:53 +0000

In reply to The Scent Of Time

A certain scent or a certain piece of music seems to ring little chimes inside the brain of an Alzheimer patient. That last little connection, I think, brings us all happiness, even though it may be brief. My mother's birthday is May 21st. She would have been 105! And isn't it something that we remember birth dates and not death dates?

It's not about your Mom, Dick

barefooted — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 05:34:10 +0000

In reply to I aint got much.

It's not about your Mom, Dick. It's about what makes your memory come alive in those times and ways that catch you totally off guard and catch your breath, the bits that are so buried that we can't find them when we try. It's the not trying that makes the difference.

I aint got much.

Richard Day — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 04:53:45 +0000

In reply to The Scent Of Time

I aint got much.

I despised my parents.

My son kinda likes me?

Why I am not sure.

But my best remembrance of my Mom was her bread.

Bread and yeast I guess.

She was really good at making bread.

And that fragrance shall forever be in my conscious?

the end

It was actually a fun moment.

barefooted — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 22:53:58 +0000

In reply to I love the canny moment where

It was actually a fun moment. She knew the perfume, of course, and was greatly amused that we were so excited to give her something that she hadn't thought of in years!

I love the canny moment where

moat — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 21:52:21 +0000

In reply to The Scent Of Time

I love the canny moment where your Mom saw the lay of the land and did her best to help you all get through it.