Time Travel

The sense of smell can be

extraordinarily evocative, 

bringing back pictures as 

sharp as photographs of scenes

that had left the conscious mind.

ThalassaCruso

 
Do you ever smell something or taste something that instantly takes you back to the past? There are a few things that return me to my childhood.  One is the taste of tomato juice.  I am three years old and at a nursery school, (now called pre-school).  My guess is that they would give us tomato juice though I do not remember drinking it. Not much is remembered, yet, I do remember that one day I walked to a grocery store with my teacher.  I felt so proud I had been picked to help the teacher. We walked, what I thought was a long way, to a Safeway and bought bananas. Later, as an adult, I returned to the nursery school and saw that the Safeway was about three houses from the nursery school. My Mother would tell the story that she would walk us to the nursery school so that we could learn to speak English. She always said, "I do not want my children to be like me and not know how to speak English." She would laugh as she recalled walking my brother and me to the school, dropping us off, walking home, and by then it was time to turn around and walk back to pick us up.

The taste of raspberries places me at about five years old.  Mr. Moffat, our neighbor, had raspberry bushes in his yard right next to our chain link fence.  Branches would be on our side of the fence and I liked to pick the raspberries and eat them.  Mr. Moffat had a grandson by the name of Allen and my brother and I would play with him. Allen gave me rides in a red wagon and I felt good riding up and down the block!
During my college years, I took a class on hypnotism and was asked to put my arm out, told I could not move my arm, then asked to lower my arm. I could not do it. When I came home I sat in a chair and relaxed.  I knew I was not asleep but I did "see" my body hovering above me. I could see me sitting in a red wagon while someone pulled the wagon.  My hair was blowing in the breeze and I was laughing.  It was a good hearty laugh without a care in the world. The laughter seemed to stem from happiness and began in my stomach, moved to my chest and burst out of my mouth. A peaceful feeling surrounded me.  Just then, a door slammed and I came out of my trance. I have tried to return to that peacefulness, that feeling of being suspended, but have never able to capture that wonderful feeling. I have often wondered if it was something left over from being hypnotized.

Ether is a smell that if I get a whiff of something that smells like ether, I am transported to a hospital room and my tonsils are to be taken out. I was probably around 12 years old and since I seemed to catch a lot of colds the doctor said it would be best to get my tonsils out.  I remember being in the operating room with a large, round, bright light above me.  My last thought before I went under was: God's will be done and if he wants to take me, I am ready. I remember eating Popsicles and soft foods. Warm milk with white bread soaked in the milk and sprinkled with salt was my favorite.  My mother catered to me to make me feel better. I notice that the smell of ether is strongest at carnivals, bazaars, or vendor setups where there are a lot of thick and heavy electrical wires. I  am glad I do not smell ether very often because it tends to upset my stomach.

The yeasty smell of homemade bread lets me picture my mother wearing an apron over her cotton floral dress. She is working with a large blob of dough kneading it over and over again.  I can see the pans of bread covered with a cloth and waiting for the dough to rise. When she puts the raised dough into the oven, the smell of bread baking is one that I will never forget!

Tortillas have a toasty type of smell and though this smell is not too popular in my neighborhood, I remember coming home to a steamy kitchen to find my mother with a pile of tortillas she had just prepared.  Add that smell to green chilies being toasted on top of the stove and I instantly recall my growing up days in Greeley, Colorado!

Strange how a taste or a smell can stir up so many memories of my past.