Who'd a thunk something so small could evoke such strong emotions

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

I did something I haven't had time to do in months- I took a rainy afternoon off and went mall walking.

The aisle salespersons were out in force- I was snagged by a beautiful young woman who told me she was from Israel. (With that lovely accent, no doubt!) Anyhoo, she was selling something you may or may not know about- it's simply a microwaveable herbal "pillow". It's just a cloth sack filled with various cool stuff, and you heat it for therapeutic application as needed.

It also has a variety of incredible natural scents.

The one that caught me up in old memories was labeled as mint. The thing that got me was, although it WAS mint, there was also the exact scent of new-mown hay. Anyone who's been on a farm knows that scent. Hard to describe, but I can try- it's a CLEAN smell. An ORGANIC smell. A LIVING smell. It's great.

For reasons I don't even WANT to analyze, when I held that pillow to my nose and inhaled, I instantly lost forty years in age. I flashed that far back into my life. Unexpected. Indescribable. Priceless.

They say odor is the strongest mental trigger there is. Sniff this, think of one thing. Sniff something else, it invokes something that can be years, miles, and lifetimes ago.

For what may be the first time for me, I believe I've experienced the reality of that first hand- it was on a rainy Texas afternoon, in an anonymous two story mall, while talking to a beautiful young Israeli woman.

It was the day I suddenly, without warning, became a country child walking through a hayfield again, after all these long gone years.

Ain't life just THE coolest thing! :yourock:



--
On edit: a link to the products I'm talking about. Note: I do NOT represent this company in ANY WAY. http://www.naturecreation.com/

[BarenakedLady]

1. Wow. Cool story.

Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. Any ol' time.

:toast:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Prisoner_Number_Six...

You, sir, are a natural-born storyteller...

Such vivid writing!

I really enjoyed reading this...

Life can indeed be very cool...

[Capn Sunshine]

4. What she said ^

Nice little tale.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. I had a really good time writing it.

It really DID happen- about three hours ago.

[KamaAina]

5. Oh thank goodness.

For a minute there, I thought this was going to be about Bush**'s penis. :scared:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Glad to be of soivice!

:toast:

[ThomCat]

8. That sounds wonderful!

For me it would be the old smells of being on a farm. I miss that.

I don't know that I'm every likely to smell that stuff again. Hay, and the familiar stink of cows in the barn, and the straw and feathers smell of a clean chicken coop, and apple orchards in the early summer, and the smell of plowed earth...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

9. You just described my childhood.

Thank you. :toast:

[ThomCat]

10. You're very welcome.

:toast:

:hi:

[hippywife]

11. Smell is the most

evocative of all senses. Did you buy the pillow?

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. I bought two

One for me and one for my sister. I think she'll like it.

[MilesColtrane]

13. "Who'd a thunk something so small could evoke such strong emotions"

That's what she said, to me.

:7

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

15. I'm not touching that

in ANY possible manner.

Ever.

:evilgrin:

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. I love those things.