A smell, a taste, a sound

Yesterday as my 3 little men were napping and I was doing some catching up on the computer, I overheard my husband watching an episode of Band of Brothers. The men were singing the song "Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die" and I found myself in a different place for just a moment. No, it was not World War II. That song had triggered a memory of my grandfather who used to sing military songs to us. I could see a moment in the living room with him and my brother, I could feel what I felt at that moment, I could almost smell my grandparents house. It is amazing how our memory gives us those small gifts.

All of my grandparents have passed and I treasure these moments where I am taken back to a time when they were still alive. Sometimes it is a song like yesterday. Sometimes it is the smell of something cooking that reminds me of my grandma's kitchen. I have even been brought back by the smell of Oil of Olay as that was what my one grandmother always smelled like. A phrase or gesture can  trigger this time warp. All of my grandparents had qualities that were distinctly them and when they reappear in a different form I am instantly reminded of them. It makes me wonder what kind of things will trigger someone's memory of me when I am gone. Will my husband smell someone else wearing my favorite Bath and Body scent and think of me? Will my kids be at a park with their kids and be brought back to a time when we frequented the park? In someway it is comforting to know that these pieces of me will continue on.

I am so grateful that those we have lost can still live on in our memory. It is like an appetizer...something to tide you over until we have the real thing again one day.

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