What's That I Smell? Your senses are a minefield of prompts

The scent lingers for years, bringing you back in time. What a perfect subject to explore as you start your Personal History.

Picture yourself coming home from school and opening the door to the scent of your mother cooking your favorite meal. If you lived in an apartment, you might have been able to identify what your neighbors were having for dinner that night, too.

Think about leaves burning in the fall (too bad our grandchildren won’t be enjoying this one, but we can tell them about it,) Christmas trees (the kind that grew in the ground – not the kind that grow at WalMart.) There’s the sachet in your mother’s underwear drawer, the smell of your grandfather’s cigar. Each can spark a new story about your experiences and each stays with you through the years. Here's my example:

JG

People complained about the smell that permeated my grandmother’s house: cigar. Long after my grandfather passed away when I was eighteen, the cigar smoke lingered. And I liked it. It reminded me that he once lived there and it reminded me of the quiet, hard-working man who loved me unconditionally.

As the oldest grandchild, I guess I was the one who first called him “Poppop.” My other grandfather who died when I was four, was “Poppop Phil” but my mother’s father needed no further description. He was “Poppop.”My mother inherited his classic good looks, dark eyes and hair and aquiline nose. He was born in Amsterdam in a middle-class family of 8 children. His father owned a butcher shop and Barend followed in the family tradition.
I wish I knew his version of the story, but it is rumored that he was working as a butcher aboard a passenger ship when he decided to jump ship and stay in the United States where they landed.

How he and my grandmother met, memories of their wedding and early life together are lost memories. 

Pages of stories about Poppop and my grandmother, Mommom can be generated from the recollection of his cigar smoke. You can do the same. Whether it’s a cigar, baby powder, or a pot of homemade soup or spaghetti sauce that stirs a memory, let your mind run free through the familiar aromas. Where were you and what were you doing? Who was with you?

Now it’s your turn to write!

If you’re not sure how to move forward with this, email me (judy@as-you-recall.com)  to arrange a complimentary consultation.