Stories/scenes in your memory that are tied to smells (1 Viewer)

[Nathan R. Jessep]

Have enjoyed the interesting stories in the Stories thread for songs and mentioned yesterday that I had a completely random memory pop up the other day when I encountered a SMELL. So I thought, why not do a smell thread as well. 

One of the floors of our office builiding is often used to host catered parties, etc. so there is a good stream of food being brought in and out on those days. I was leaving work and about to get on the elevator the other day when I entered the elevator lobby and encountered a familiar smell. My memory flashed and all of a sudden I was sitting around the high school cafeteria lunch table with my buddies. It was as crystal clear in my mind. I'm not sure what the food was, something fried I think that made me think of the old high school cafeteria tater tots, but it was the EXACT smell. 

Also, just thought of another. Every time I open a sack of flour, I think of being about 10 years old and making homemade biscuits with my grandma in her little country kitchen. Good times. 

Whatcha got?

 

[ChiefD]

Every time someone opens a can of tuna I think of one really bad night in college.......

 

[wikkidpissah]

Coppertone makes me weep with sexual nostalgia

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Fresh cut lawn, the ocean, firework smoke, chalk on a blackboard, brats and corn on a grill are all very evocative for me.  Rotting apples and pumpkins on a cool fall morning, the smell of burning leaves also hanging in the air take me back.  The smell of the leather on a baseball glove makes me think of classmates and playmates from long ago.

 

[Parrothead]

smell of Jello reminds me of hospitals

smell of salt air/ beach reminds me of vacations

smell of pizza box reminds me of my HS job delivering pizzas

smell of stale beer brings me back to college

smell of honeysuckle reminds me of summers as a kid

smell of hot dogs = baseball games

 

[El Floppo]

my HS in CA had something called "orange court"... orange trees in a court surrounded by classrooms. but more than the oranges, for some reason wild freesia grew there too.

2nd semester (spring), senior year, I had US Constitution in a class that faced that court... I was already accepted to college, with one foot out the door and completely checked out. Id' sit in the back of the class next to an open window and just inhale and daydream. since then, the smell of freesia always makes me feel carefree, happy and hopeful. (and ignorant about the US constitution.)

not a smell, but every fall the feel of the night air as it gets crisp gives me the same feeling of hopeful, youthful optimism. I realized that the feeling came from going out at night on halloween as a kid... the first time, as a kid, I'd get to experience night-time without parental supervision... running around, hopped up on sugar and wreaking havoc with all my gbs. those first few fall nights bring me right back to that feeling every year.

 

[Thunderlips]

Every time someone opens a can of tuna I think of one really bad night in college.......

I think of a fight that I almost got into with some jabroni in a movie theatre.  I was just settling down in my seat with a nice can of Starkist in oil, when some ####### accosted me and kept hounding me over eating said tuna fish.  

 

[Funkley]

Jack Daniels

Everytime I smell it I am reminded of a night in college, waking up with the paramedics standing over me and one of them saying, "oh, he'll be all right......". Still can see the look of horror on one of my friends GF's face as I came too. I don't think she expected me to wake up.

I don't drink Jack Daniels anymore

 

[Funkley]

I think of a fight that I almost got into with some jabroni in a movie theatre.  I was just settling down in my seat with a nice can of Starkist in oil, when some ####### accosted me and kept hounding me over eating said tuna fish.  

lofl 

 

[rodg12]

There's a specific smell on August mornings here in Iowa as the weather slowly transitions to fall.  Air is crisper, cooler.  Always reminds me of high school football practice on August mornings before school starts.

Ralph Lauren Romance perfume reminds me of my high school GF if I ever smell it (mentioned this in the other thread).

Smell of the ocean always takes me back to the first time I saw it in 1993.

 

[El Floppo]

used to go to summer day camp, up-county (near the marin civic center) as a young kid (5-9). bus would pick me up in the morning by the highway- foggy, cold, miserable... and it would be hot and dry up there (only 20 minutes away... micro-climates!). the place stood near or in a stand of tall, old eucalyptus trees. the smell of eucalyptus, baking in the sun... brings me right back to excited, new, youthful discoveries and games. 

 

[Hov34]

Every-time I smell my hot neighbor's garbage cans from across the street I feel regret I didn't act soon enough.

 

[myohmy]

A former lover's scent.  Didn't know what it was called.  Smelled it in a store one day and followed it to a Sales Person working there.  Ahhh....if he had been about 10 years younger, I would have wooed him into being my sexual submissive!!!!

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

Every-time I smell my hot neighbor's garbage cans from across the street I feel regret I didn't act soon enough.

 well played, but it's next door  

 

[Jackstraw]

I was sixteen when I went to my first bachelors party. I still smell the same scent as the strippers perfume to this day occasionally and it takes me straight back. 

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

From the cologne thread, it got me thinking.... I can still smell the perfume of a couple of old girlfriends (like HS/early college days) and it takes me back there. More recent ones haven't stuck with me like those did, not sure why that is. 

 

[Scoresman]

the smell of a cabbage patch kid doll fresh out of the package reminds of my first sexual encounter.

 

[McJose]

smell of pizza box reminds me of my HS job delivering pizzas

Absolutely.  Doesn't even smell like pizza.  Just steamy cardboard.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Baseball glove - the predominant smell of childhood.  

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Every time someone opens a can of tuna I think of one really bad night in college.......

I got a bad whiff of a Louisville stripper once

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I got a bad whiff of a Louisville stripper once

Baseball glove - the predominant smell of childhood.  

These two posts seem to be swimming down the same stream. 

 

[Binky The Doormat]

These two posts seem to be swimming down the same stream. 

  innocence vs. a smelly hooker?

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

  innocence vs. a smelly hooker?

Doc D played ball in a rough neighborhood  

 

[RokNRole]

Aww man do I have to relive it?

 

[jhib]

Jack Daniels

Everytime I smell it I am reminded of a night in college, waking up with the paramedics standing over me and one of them saying, "oh, he'll be all right......". Still can see the look of horror on one of my friends GF's face as I came too. I don't think she expected me to wake up.

I don't drink Jack Daniels anymore

Yeah, I get that look from my wife sometimes. 

 

[belljr]

Fresh cut lawn, the ocean, firework smoke, chalk on a blackboard, brats and corn on a grill are all very evocative for me.  Rotting apples and pumpkins on a cool fall morning, the smell of burning leaves also hanging in the air take me back.  The smell of the leather on a baseball glove makes me think of classmates and playmates from long ago.

Everytime we oil up our gloves (daughter and I) - that smell just takes me back to playing ball from the time I woke up until sun down

 

[jhib]

I usually hate the smell of cigarette smoke, but if there's a general light smell of it outside on a warm summer night, it takes me back to being a kid on the boardwalk at night after a long awesome day on the Jersey Shore.

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

Aww man do I have to relive it?

yeah, I've got a few of those too 

 

[Fat Nick]

From the cologne thread, it got me thinking.... I can still smell the perfume of a couple of old girlfriends (like HS/early college days) and it takes me back there. More recent ones haven't stuck with me like those did, not sure why that is. 

It's funny you mention that.  My wife's old perfume doesn't take me back to our pre-kids grad school days the way ex-gf's perfumes/smells do.  That is interesting.  I wonder if there's a longer time requirement for those kinds of things...

 

[drummer]

I was in NY a year ago and a dude was wearing Drakkar Noir in a bar in Brooklyn. 

I thought he could had been Otis