a walk through my senses

I used to think memories were best made in pictures, because they capture the 1000 words you wish you could say about what happened, but I don't know if I totally believe this anymore. Many would argue that this is true - that pictures are the best way to remember. But then you meet my husband who has a really bad memory and would just as soon not have his photo taken, and I wonder how he keeps his memories intact.

There are, however, these other tangible things that I forget about until they pop up again that are wrapped up nicely in particular parts of my brain and are just as exciting to find as the pictures buried in a drawer/iCloud someplace. Sounds. Smells. Tastes. The way something feels. Other things you see besides pictures.

I can tell you what nearly everything I encounter reminds me of. Except for the new things. But even the new things remind me of old things.

Whenever I smell fresh cut grass, I think of my backyard on 309 Pate Ave in Dyersburg, TN, being pushed by my dad on the swing set he made. When I smell pecan trees, I am transported to my grandmother's front yard in the summers where I played. When I smell just-opened shower curtains or anything made of that kind of plastic, it reminds me of setting up our above-ground pool every summer as a kid and unwrapping the new pool liner.

Name a song. Any song. "Wonderwall?" Young Life club. Third Eye Blind's "Never Let Me Go"? First time I heard it: making my bed when I was in the 4th grade and listening to it on the radio when it first came out. Madonna's "Like a Little Prayer"? Dancing on the bar at King Tut's in Knoxville, TN at my bachelorette party with my bridesmaids. John Denver's "Country Roads"? Driving to Colorado with my youth group in high school. "The Sound of Music"? My grandmother's living room where I watched it and ate mini chicken pot pies multiple times a week.

Whenever I sleep on jersey cotton sheets, I think of my older sister who used to swear by them, and I got to sleep on them any time I was at her house.

When I eat peanut M&Ms, I transport to my grandma's house in IL.When I eat macaroni and cheese, I think of my highly adored babysitter who would make it every day during the summer when my parents were at work.

When I see certain floor tiles in office buildings, I immediately go back to the  doctor's office where I often went and hated as a little kid. When I see blue/green Toyota Tercels, I think of riding in the sister's old car and feeling so cool when she was in college and I was about 5.

Pictures don't always do memories the justice that memories themselves do...