Smells

Does anyone else get all emotional when they smell certain things? Smells bring back memories for me. And I had one at WalMart this week that hit me like a brick!

There I was standing at the deli and an older lady walked past... it was immediate. Grandma Ethel.

Grandma Ethel has bee gone for 20 years now. But the smell of Estee' Lauder is fresh in my mind. This was (still is for me) Grandma's perfume and her signature.

In that moment I had a wave of emotion. Hurt, sadness, loneliness, joy, pride; all at the same time. Hurt, sadness and loneliness for the obvious reason; my Grandma is gone and I have not seen her or heard her voice or smelled her scent for 5/7 of my life. That sounds like an eternity. Joy because that is what she brought to me with her craziness and foul mouthed antics! And pride because I know she would be proud of me for what I have done.

I can remember the craziest things about her, can picture her plain as day in my head and recall the moments we shared. She cursed like a sailor and was without a doubt the person who taught me to swear (and probably lied to my parents about it!) She had an attitude from you know where and showed it to anyone she darn well pleased! Grandma had jet black hair that was always permed and "set" come to think of it now; her hair was obviously color treated. She was a big lady who wore those ridiculous polyester old women pants with button up shirts and SAS shoes. She sped around town in a blue Ford Escort (possibly the very first one ever made) that had those silly automatic seatbelts. Grandma lived in a trailer park in Mesa for retired people that had a swimming pool. We would play cards and our antes were time at the pool. Her house was always immaculate; obviously not something that rubbed off! She always had Apple Jacks for cereal and those Keebler fudge stripped shortbread cookies. I can picture her drinking cups and cereal bowls. Aren't these crazy things to understand? I guess I do because I always knew I could count on these things from her.

Grandma shopped religiously from Montgomery Ward and Sears. She always got our school clothes for us, not that Mom and Dad couldn't; but they probably wouldn't have been good enough for her granddaughters. Grandma gambled, Grandma gambled ALOT! When she came to visit us in Las Vegas she stayed out all night at the casino, drinkin and smokin, and came home as we were leaving for school. Go get it old lady!!! The only person I know to compare her to is Roseanne's grandma Bev. And that's not even close to MY Grandma!

So this ones for you Grandma Ether Lininger...

Thank you for using such a distinctive perfume so I could have memories right there in the middle of WalMart and bawl like a big fat baby! You would be the old women in the electric cart laughing at me!