Smells Like Nostalgia
Scent is the strongest sense that is associated with emotional memory.
Odor information is easily stored in long term memory and has strong connections to emotional memory. This is possibly due to the olfactory system's close anatomical ties to the limbic system and hippocampus, areas of the brain that have long been known to be involved in emotion and place memory, respectively.
This is becoming a growing experience in my life. As I have spent the last few months, wondering why in God's green earth He created probability and statistics, why the SOA exists and how my asexual friends are getting girlfriends. The world just seems so strange and out of place when you hear about them use "my" and "girlfriend" in the same sentence. But I digress...
Smuckers jam reminds me of my joyful youth. On many occasions, I had to scavenge the Chong family household for substinence. Crunchy peanut butter and smuckers jam would be a common default. Egg sandwiches were another fav. I don't know how my mums did it. It was a perfect combination of eggs, salt and white wonder bread. She'd usually leave about an hour before the little Chongs woke up, but when I'd smell eggs in the air, I'd run over and see the breakfast she'd left us. A plate for each, covered with an unfolded napkin.
Recently, one memory has come to mind over and over again. I'm not sure how old I was, but I had a round silouhette, bowl haircut and mismatching clothes. It is THE birthday part that I remember. Pizza Hut pies, chinese bakery birthday cake and a few of my lucky friends. To top it off, I even got some presents. I remember two gifts from that glorious day; a real leather football and scented markers.
Scented markers, are you serious? That's what you're asking, arent' you? Well, it seems strange to you now and even seemed strange to me at the time, but those markers were awesome! Each marker had a different scent. I remember red was strawberry, yellow was lemon and black was licorice. I wish I could go back and thank that friend instead of being puzzled by that strange gift. I wish I didn't give too much attention to the football and said some words of gratefulness about those amazing scented markers instead of pushing them aside for more gifts. He actually knew me a lot better that I thought...
Ricky... if you're out there. I'm sorry man. I'll never forget coloring in Roman aqueducts with your gift during that summer.
Odor information is easily stored in long term memory and has strong connections to emotional memory. This is possibly due to the olfactory system's close anatomical ties to the limbic system and hippocampus, areas of the brain that have long been known to be involved in emotion and place memory, respectively.
This is becoming a growing experience in my life. As I have spent the last few months, wondering why in God's green earth He created probability and statistics, why the SOA exists and how my asexual friends are getting girlfriends. The world just seems so strange and out of place when you hear about them use "my" and "girlfriend" in the same sentence. But I digress...
Smuckers jam reminds me of my joyful youth. On many occasions, I had to scavenge the Chong family household for substinence. Crunchy peanut butter and smuckers jam would be a common default. Egg sandwiches were another fav. I don't know how my mums did it. It was a perfect combination of eggs, salt and white wonder bread. She'd usually leave about an hour before the little Chongs woke up, but when I'd smell eggs in the air, I'd run over and see the breakfast she'd left us. A plate for each, covered with an unfolded napkin.
Recently, one memory has come to mind over and over again. I'm not sure how old I was, but I had a round silouhette, bowl haircut and mismatching clothes. It is THE birthday part that I remember. Pizza Hut pies, chinese bakery birthday cake and a few of my lucky friends. To top it off, I even got some presents. I remember two gifts from that glorious day; a real leather football and scented markers.
Scented markers, are you serious? That's what you're asking, arent' you? Well, it seems strange to you now and even seemed strange to me at the time, but those markers were awesome! Each marker had a different scent. I remember red was strawberry, yellow was lemon and black was licorice. I wish I could go back and thank that friend instead of being puzzled by that strange gift. I wish I didn't give too much attention to the football and said some words of gratefulness about those amazing scented markers instead of pushing them aside for more gifts. He actually knew me a lot better that I thought...
Ricky... if you're out there. I'm sorry man. I'll never forget coloring in Roman aqueducts with your gift during that summer.
posted by chongo1201 at 10:19 AM
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