It smells "Right"

Matthew's kinder-prep class had big plans to celebrate the 100th day of school with a pajama party today.  Last night as I was tucking him into bed, we were talking about what he would need for his party...
pajamas-check
house shoes-check
pillow-check
blankie-
....this is where it happend, but maybe we need some background info here...
ALL of my children have a developed affinity for their "blankie."  Matthew has his "soft" CAR blankie. Every night when I tuck him in I have to position this blanket just right so that he can put the tag in his ear...SO sweet.  He has done this so long that the tag is naturally curled at the end to fit perfectly in his ear!  I knew about how much he loved the tag, but what I learned last night struck particularly close to home for me...
Blankie-check...
I quickly said "How does it smell?" (afraid that it might not be April fresh, due to his rare agreement to let it out of his sight)
We both smelled it...he looked at me and said "it smells RIGHT." 
Agh..a boy after my own heart!  Some things just smell "RIGHT."  No need for additional explanation or description...I knew exactly what he meant.

Smell is directly linked to memory!  There is lots of scientific stuff about it...however...I am not a scientist so I'm not gonna pretend to know what I am talking about.  I do know that it is the only IMMEDIATE response sense...meaning...the brain has to process what the ears hear, the eyes see, the nerves feel, the mouth tastes...but...a smell triggers an automatic and natural reaction.  Good or Bad.
Do you remember the way your grandma's house smelled when you were a kid?  When you walk in does it take you back to summers when you visited or Christmas when the family gathered to celebrate?
I love when Ian comes home and he has been working on something greasy and mechanical...I just bury my face in his shirt and smell!  It reminds me of being little and the very few times I was ever in my grandpa's garage.  He was car "tinkerer" and it smelled like metal tools, grease, gas, and car exhaust.  I love it...it smells RIGHT
I cannot get enough of the way my mom's laundry smells...I use the same soap, the same softner, the same stain remover...but mine NEVER smells the same...it smells like "my mom" and it's comforting and familiar...it smells RIGHT!
 On the flip side...growing up, when one of our pets would "mess" in the floor, my mom would ALWAYS clean it up with pine-sol.  To this day if someone is cleaning with pine-sol I immediately think of the combo of dog poo and pine-sol...GAG! It smells WRONG!
Aromas illicit feelings of joy, or comfort...disdain or frustration.  Sometimes we don't even know why. 
I will go out of my way to drive down a street where they are repairing the roads, just so I can roll down my window and take huge wiffs of TAR!  Wrong...I know!  I have searched the cob webs of mind struggling to find what deep seeded memory that smell is connected to...all I can tell you is, it was definitely a very good memory!  I get such a happy feeling down in the pit of my stomach every time I smell that stinky goo!  It smells RIGHT!

Ani tells me that when she smells garlic, she thinks of me!  I love that!  And Abi says that I always smell like laundry.  How ironic is that? 

I hope that heaven is full of all of our favorite smells here on earth...the ones that make us remember the good 'ol days and the ones that we can't quite explain.  Like one big olfactory overload!

Maybe it's the chapstick you had on during your first kiss...or cinammon from your grandma's cookies...maybe the shampoo your best friend used...the campfire smoke from your family vacation...or possibly the indescribable smell of your "blankie".... 

Take time everyday to breath deep and make a new memory or recall an old one.