I’m always fascinated by how tastes, smells, music, sounds and just random thoughts can evoke strong memories.
Recently, I had watermelon. After one bite, I was transported back to my early 20s as a camp counselor in Houston. Vividly, I remembered cutting up farmer’s market fresh watermelon for campers. Those melons were always amazing. So fresh and juicy–some of the best of my life. Those nights were always warm and the watermelon came after a long day of camp life. They were a final treat before bed for everyone and there was a mix of happy emotions as everyone capped off a fun summer’s day.
From time to time, I’ll open a box that is somehow stale but also fresh in some way. These always evoke memories of staying with my grandmother when I was young. My brother and I always stayed upstairs so the room wasn’t used much. It was spotlessly clean, but always had that spare room feel about it. A place no one had been in ages, but which was kept ready for visitors like me. I spent many long, mostly summer nights up there with the whole house fan on high, the crickets keeping time in the warm Kansas night.
Oil is another one. When I was a teen, I spent many hours helping my dad in the driveway fixing cars. The scent of oil or grease reminds me of those days. Always dirty, hot and usually tired. The day could have been hot or cold, but the work always seemed to last hours and end with sore muscles from twisting and pulling from the engine or beneath the car.
Musty fabric always takes me briefly back to my younger days camping with my parents and our neighbours. We used to camp until I was around 13 and we always took along an old US Army surplus fabric and wood tent. It was always slightly musty and my folks tried to mask that smell with some kind of chemical. It wasn’t unpleasant, but wasn’t something you’d normally have in the home. A whiff of must, though reminds me of those mostly cool California nights in the tent.
Music is a powerful memory tool. Songs take me instantly back to different times, places and people. They seem to link to specific events in time as though songs act like bookmarks to only one memory each. Most songs have no real associations or take me back vaguely to points in my life. But, others are so specific I could nearly tell you the date and time of the memory they evoke.
I notice in writing this that most of my links take me back to my life before the age of 25 or so. I don’t know if that’s just how memories work or whether we just fix our key memories early on. But, I hope that new memories will become linked to things as well. I know songs still do that–new music latches on to newer memories. The smell of warm dog always reminds me of my old pal Tim. But, there are years to go and more memories to make and remember.