The Power of Scent

Lately, every time I take a shower I find my mind wandering back to my time in Kenya. It happened enough times that I consciously took note of it. I wondered why for awhile, and then it slowly dawned on me that the body wash I was using was the one that I took with me on that trip. In an effort to clean out a cupboard, I've been using up old shower gels. Normally I just use a bar of soap, but bottles are handy for traveling. At least they're handy until they get too low to last for an entire trip.

It really amazes me how a scent can bring back vivid memories. The second I open the bottle my mind is flooded with scenes from Eldoret and Nairobi. Suddenly I can taste the food again and see the incredible night skies. I remember how driving down the road is one long game of chicken and being served a cup of tea after I finished preaching. For a brief moment I relive sleeping tangled up in mosquito nets, walking through the crowds at the street bash, and even being interviewed on radio.

All this from a simple scent. The only hard part about this is that I don't like the scent of the body wash. It was a bottle that I got free and since it was full I took it on the trip. So my mornings are a mix up between a smell I don't particularly like and the amazing memories it invokes.