Writer's Block: Smells like teen spirit

[fabrisse]

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I have many. My sense of smell is excellent, but the one that sticks with me...

When I was ten, my mother went to work and the first job she got was a night job. She did detailed backward planning to instruct me from a distance in how to cook dinner for me, my sister, and my father. I also, for at least part of this time, had a paper route. There were days, especially in the autumn and winter, when I started dinner and then delivered the paper. (The Washington Star, now defunct, was an evening paper except on the weekends.)

Short ribs with dried apricots was one of the great budget meals from my childhood. I can't remember a time when Mom didn't make it, and it was one of my favorite dinners as a kid.

I remember coming home from the paper route and smelling the short ribs. I looked for Mom for a minute or two, until I remembered that I was the cook. It was the first time I thought of myself as a cook, and I was so proud that I'd made it smell right.

Comments

[katewallace.livejournal.com]

My Dad was a typewriter/calculator repairman for Underwood (later 'Olivetti-Underwood', and then just "Olivetti".) When I was little, my Mom and I would go visit him at work and the shop area smelled strongly of whatever it was that they used to clean the typewriters. (I have no idea what it was..probably some sort of mild solvent used to get the crud off the parts.)

Years after he passed away and I was married, we took my electric typewriter to be cleaned and when we brought it home and I opened the case...the smell immediately transported me back to the shop..all those years later and they were still using the same cleaning agent. It was a madeleine moment, for sure.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Scents are such important mementoes.