As a psych major I must have talked/read/wrote about memory and recognition a million times. Of all those millions of times the one that sticks out the most is the phenomena that smell is the strongest trigger of a memory. Even when you are unaware that it's happening the smells around you can trigger or are triggering times in your past or storing a memory to be recalled later. Before this turns into a term paper (can you tell I miss school?) I will get to my point.
Jason always laughs at me because I call this time of year Harvest Season. Growing up we celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving but I don't recall them separately very often. I recall this time of year, also known as fall, as a happy time filled with SO many memories. Growing up in the same house in the same town with the same people for 19 years meant that every year at the same time the same smells would appear and thus bring up the memories of the years before. Since getting married and going on the whirlwind adventure with the soldier I love, I realized that I will not experience those sames again the way I once did. However, I will now smell something and think "the smell of construction sites-that reminds me of when we lived in Virginia in that tiny apartment across the street from a construction site that never stopped working".While sitting on my porch this afternoon and trying to block out the noise and smell of that construction site I imagined the smell of a carnival (Gwinnett County Fair-every September) or new polished floors and a fresh coat of paint (the start of the school year) or concession stand hamburgers (football-Go Knights!). I thought about Clayton and I wonder what it will be like for him. Will he smell a hot dog and think of 20 different things where I remember 1? It is weird for me to imagine how he will catalog his memories different then I did. In the Army it is easier to remember your life and specific events by which post or deployment then by the numeral year. For example I will always remember that Clayton was born at Hood and had his first pet at Ft. Lee, etc. I just hope that although we have moved and will continue to move that he will set roots and find a favorite time of year and have memories that are triggered by smell and most importantly smile when he has these memories...so here is to making memories in what way necessary to have them later.
