Coffee and Bacon

What is it about waking up to the smell of coffee and bacon that makes you feel ... safe, cozy, makes you know you're home. The sense of smell, for me, is one of the most powerful forces to sway a mood or a thought, convey a memory ... or create one.

If an author forces me to smell something he/she is writing about, I love the book even better. As my eyes read the words, I don't have to actually "smell" the beach or the saltwater, but reading the words will often trip the sensory mechanism into high gear and I begin to be in the place described, because of the sense of smell.

The pleasing smells of a special meal, or cooking ... or baking (yum) cookies, breads, pies ... or the way you feel when you enter your favorite Italian restaurant ... the garlic smell and that of tomatos and breads ... mmm ... those great smells greet you as you smile through the door. It's all part of the experience, and the memory it creates.

I can be out someplace, and get just a hint of a smell and be transported back in time in an instant. To a record store I used to love as a teenager, or to the hallways in grade school, the cafeteria, or to a hay loft where I ... won't say ... Time and smell walk hand-in-hand for me.

Or how about the smell of exhaust as you get stuck behind a slow moving beater truck on a back two-lane road with double yellow lines. An old truck you can't pass and whose owner has no concern in the world for the fellow behind him, or better yet our O Zone being stripped away. Do you like the smell of gasoline at the pump, or would you rather someone else do it ... (me too.)

I'm a country girl ... and I can tell the difference between cow, horse, pig, and chicken manure at 100 yards. And I'm proud of that fact. Riding down a country road during planting season, I can usually stick my head out the window; take a big sniff ... "cow," I say all proud like. I raised my youngun's to know the difference too. It makes a country mama proud when her college educated girl comes in the door and says, "whoo-wee ... smelled pig on the way here!"

How about the smell of your mother's perfume? Or Dad's Old Spice? The unique smell of your parent's home as you walk inside? Do the memories flood your head? Or even the smell of a certain town, like a coal town, or a steel town. You associate those smells with parts of your life, your dreams ... or your nightmares.

I think the sense of hearing, and seeing ... are for the most part, senses for the here and now. But the sense of smell ... ah, can stir a memory like none other. The holidays are full of smell memories, aren't they? Or a freshly mowed lawn, or your grandma's flowerbeds.

I wonder what scientist's are doing with smell to stimulate alzheimer patients. Seems logical to me.

One of my favorite smells is a tiny baby, just after a bath, all powered up and lotioned with Baby Magic. They way a baby feels and smells as you cuddle it close to your face, and kiss it. Nothing can stir a woman's hormones like that. But then, we all know nothing can be as foul smelling as a full diaper. Oh well ... with babies ... you take the good with the bad, right?

The smell of a wet dog is annoying, but everyone who owns a beloved animal knows its smell. And don't you wonder what you smell like to your pet? And as much as I love the sense of smell, an animal's sense of smell is so much greater than ours ... I've heard that dogs can even smell cancer in their owners. Trained dogs, that is. It's an amazing tribute to this gift God has given us and the creatures He created.

So, without further adieu, my Southern mother-in-law just stuck her head in my office and said, "I needed bacon grease, there's a bunch of bacon for breakfast if ya want it. And fresh coffee."

Need I say more?

Blessings to you and yours.