The Nose Knows

Some of us have not outgrown our 6 year old noses. I remember trick or treating and the scent of the airless home the 2 old ladies across the street. Everything was black and white. They gave out nonparallels! 

When my husband was tuning pianos he'd come back home and he'd have a new scent. The soap from another house. The scent of skin changes as well after a day of work and I don't mean sweat. 

We rented a car while our car was in the shop and I had to keep the windows open (in January) because Enterprise had sprayed it with new leather smell. 

I can't use Tide laundry soap because it's the scent of my dead mother. 

I sniff my dog's breath and brush his teeth when needed. 

My step father hated the scent of lilacs because they covered the casket at his mother's funeral.

I can smell the sweat of the other people at the pool who exercise without being submerged. I have to focus on blocking my nose not to gag!

I went on a trip without my kids. When I came back, my 6yo jumped on me for a hug. She gave me a weird look, "you don't smell the same!" She smelled me again and made a sad face. Idk what I did wrong, but I want my smell back.

It's fascinating how much kids use scent as indicators to make sense of the world. My kids will talk about the smell of clothes or people's homes a lot. One day at school everyone took their jumpers off and they knew whose was whose by the smell. Like a pack of terriers