Notes of Lavender

I love the smell of lavender, I grew up on it. My grandpa wore a lavender cologne so it is a comforting scent that brings back memories. I don't have a favorite scent, I love smelling many different things. I have lots of different scented candles and colognes and I love them all.

I wouldn't say lavender is the best smell for me because of the fact that it lacks the memories that some others might bring. My favorite smell is the candle smell mulled cider. The smell brings back a memory of me and my three siblings and my two cousins, sitting in the living room drinking hot cider and just watching holiday movies like the Polar Express and the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It was December “abc family” a channel that we grew up watching for holiday movies was playing Home Alone we were all sitting on the floor with blankets up to our chests on my aunts living room floor, my other aunt was making all of us some hot cider since we just got back from being outside and watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas my cousins were getting changed into some pajamas and my other aunts and mother was sitting outside in front of a fire talking. We sat around waiting for my older cousins to come back so we could start the movie and once they came down we sat on the floor and watched our movie slowly but surely our aunts and parents started to come and join us. That night we all had laughed and talked about memories that they did growing up for their Christmas.

I do enjoy the scent of lavender, however, it’s not my favorite. Unlike lavender, the sweet smell of honeysuckle brings back many memories of sentimental value. When I was just a little girl, my grandpa introduced me to this dainty little flower. He grew a long honeysuckle vine in his backyard along a wooden fence. Whenever I went to visit him in the spring, we spent time admiring them. He taught me how to pick the flowers off of their stem and taste the nectar. Honeysuckles are my favorite because each time I get a waft of the sweet scent, I return to that place I loved.

I like the smell of lavender but it wouldn't be my preference. My favorite scent is roses. Roses remind me of happiness. It makes me happy. Some memories that come up have to do with my childhood. Its just a way to make me reminisce.

I've never really considered lavender to be one of the smells that I prefer. I wouldn't consider myself to be a fan of floral type smells. They don't have enough body to them, they smell fresh in clean but that's only really surface level. It smells like you are in a spa or a salon, but that's all that strikes me. No memories, no people, nor places, nothing. This is why I never was really a fan of floral perfume, no substance. However, when I begin to think about my favorite smell, I automatically get comforted. Whenever I think of the scent of vanilla, so many things come to mind. It's the kind of smell that reminds you of home, and family. It gives you a warm loving feeling without being surrounded by an actual person. It's almost as if you are wrapping yourself in a warm hug. Vanilla is also the smell that seems to be noticed or attractive smell as well. It's not that what I like about it, but it's nice to know that other people will enjoy it as well. It's a warm sugar cookie at the end of a long day, it a steaming cup of coffee to help start your morning off right, its the last minutes together with a loved one. It's the greatest moment in your life.

Lavender is a sensitive subject with me and my friend. Lavenders are beautiful, but I’m not big on floral scents. I'm not really sure why that is, but often smelling flowers feels like smelling the air on a cold day. It’s fine, it’s just not amazing. Some flowers I think smell great, like honeysuckles and cherry blossoms, and rose water is also a pleasant smell. I prefer the smell of food, specifically pastries. And this is why it’s so sensitive with me and my friend, probably more to me than it is to her. We were in some kind of Spa shop, because my friend wanted to buy some facial cleanser. And I, not really looking to buy anything started sniffing the bottles. A lot of them smelled like lavender, and I went to ask my friend what it was about lavender that so many people like. She said her favorite scent as lavender, and a lot of people also like lavender as it is pleasant and refreshing. So I shrugged it off as just another thing I just wouldn’t get, and she asked me if I liked lavender. I didn’t really know what to respond because I had no opinion towards it, to me it was just alright, nothing more, nothing less. So I tell her that I prefer the scent of freshly baked brownies, a scent that she doesn’t like. Cue a ridiculous argument where I say lavender is overrated and she says that lavender is healthier for the body than the scent of brownies. To this day, when I think lavender I think about that silly argument and I also get hungry thinking about brownies.

My favorite scent is the smell of home after being away. The smell of the air freshener that was lost for so long can now be picked up by a new nose. The nostalgic smell of detergent as a cloud of sheets envelop a weary traveler. Since I was a kid, I’ve traveled all over the world with my parents. I loved and hated it, loved being able to see and experience different cultures and sights and hated the long plane rides. When I was little, I wished we could go on trips more often, I didn’t want to be home. Now that I’m older, I realize that nothing is better than home. Walking along the shopping streets of Milan and Rome are fun, but as soon as I get home, I just lay on the floor and feel comfortable.

While my memory-evoking smell is not lavender, I still have many smells that remind me of certain memories and emotions. One of the most odd smells that I associate many of my memories from my childhood with is the smell of library books. Growing up I was a bookworm, so much so that I would spend my recess time reading instead of socializing or playing soccer with everyone else. When I would walk into the school library, the smell would embrace me, welcoming me to the thousands of wonderful adventures that I had found under the tattered, abused covers of the books. Under the towering shelves I felt completely at home - every book had its own smell and its own story, yet they all felt familiar, like old friends with fresh stories that you were always enthusiastic to familiarize yourself with again. Sometimes, whether it be in old book shops or when reading a classic, I catch a whiff of that scent again and it sends me back to that elementary school library, back to the young me who found solace in the corners of a library and was always ready to take on another adventure.

I run towards my friend who has just completed her first dance team routine at the high school football game. I lean down and wrap my arms around her, and I notice the smell of hairspray wafting from her slicked backed ponytail. Overwhelming memories of my days spent dancing begin rushing over me. Flashbacks of performance days pass through my head as I see myself crowded into a dressing room with twenty other girls, as we rush to perfect our hair and makeup. I can picture touching up my lipstick and eyeliner, pulling on my costume, and lacing up my pointe shoes. Throughout all of this, the scent of hairspray dances around the room creating a sweet smell that accompanies the rush of excitement that fills the room. I always liked to be the last one out of the dressing room to have a couple of seconds to myself to appreciate the stillness of the room, and that is when the smell of hairspray was most vivid to me. I am now injured and it is likely that I will never return to dancing. It has been over a year since the last time that I slipped my costume on and laced up my pointe shoes, and it is often that I find myself struggling to remember exactly what it feels like to dance. However, anytime that I catch a lingering scent of hairspray, I am immediately able to recall that feeling. The buttery and luscious smell will always be a favorite of mine, as it reminds me of my days spent dancing.

Sometimes I will get a whiff of a certain smell that will take me back to when I was a little girl. Some of these smells link to certain memories, such as the smell of gasoline. I won’t deny that it is an odd smell, but it reminds me of going to the gas station with my dad to fill up his old pickup when I was only two or three. A distinctive smell I can recognize, yet has no memories linked to it, can only be described as a sweet biscuit smell. I have been able to smell this every once in a while on the blankets in my house or on my mother’s clothes since I was little and it makes me feel at peace for some reason.

A sweet, almond like smell fills the entirety of the room, wafting from the floor to ceiling bookshelves filled to the brim with the yellowing pages of old books. I’m sitting in a rectangular, heavy wooden table with papers covering every surface. The chair is upholstered and straight-backed, not necessarily the most comfortable, but I’d grown used to it having spent numerous hours sitting on it at a time. On the other side of the table from where I’m sitting is my grandfather. He was working from his home office so that he could babysit me until my parents could pick me up. He had thin, metal framed glasses perched on his nose as he looked over documents and dug through thick manila folders. Every once in a while he would stop and turn to his clunky, antique typewriter, pressing each key with a distinctive click. I looked on, bored, waiting to be picked up so that I could play with my toys that were waiting for me back home. It was then that my grandfather stopped, looked at me, and gave me a book. He told me that he read that book when he was my age and that he thought I would like it. Whenever I enter a used bookstore or a library, I’m always reminded of this moment. The moment I began to fall in love with reading.

Lavender. Every time I smell lavender I think of my Grandma, she passed away 7 years ago and still at any moment I smell it I sense her presence. When I was younger she would always ask me what my favorite animal was and I would eagerly answer “bunnies!” excited because I knew what she was gearing up to give me. Each time I went to visit her, she would give me a stuffed rabbit. The only rabbit I still have from her is an extremely special one, in its ears it has lavender petals in it. This dirty, old bunny reeks of the delicate scent of lavender. When I see it I press it to my face and inhale. Breathing in the memories of her.

I have long held the belief that smell is the most effective way to trigger certain memories. For me, the smell of Spring morning air has always evoked strong memories for me. When I go outside on an April morning, memories of mountain bike practices and races come flooding back to me. The nervous excitement of waiting for my age group to race, the adrenaline as I line up in the chute and wait for the siren, and then the rush as I speed down the chute, elbow to elbow with my fellow racers. No other sense puts me in a memory like smell, I am completely immersed when I smell the dew on the grass, the flowers blooming. It's the sort of feeling you can't put into words, I just have to walk outside and close my eyes to see it.

As the familiar scent of fresh cotton mixed with the slightest hint of a laundry detergent hits my nostrils, I know exactly where I am. My mind forms the image of a tall, elegant house with a balcony. I walk up to the door, and I see the glass pattern that mesmerized me as a child. I hear the faint laughter of kids thundering up and down the stairs — memories flood to the front of my mind. The image of two girls playing school together reminds me of the endless hours spent running around the yard hot and sweaty without a care in the world. I’m pulled back to reality by the sharp ping of my phone. It’s my mom, reminding me that I’m late once again. After I grab the laundry detergent off the shelf, I leave the aisle and with it the memories of my youth littered behind me. The days of being anxiety-free and innocent slip away as fast as I walk out of the store. The weight of the world falls back on my shoulders, and I think back to when I never worried about what people thought or even how I acted.

Lavender is one of Nature's greatest gifts in my opinion.......I live near a large organic lavender farm and it is a bit of Heaven, pure bliss with so many great qualities.

The smell of early June holds a special place in my heart. I like the smell of it’s fresh and comforting warmth when I step outside. It’s when nature’s flourishing, and there's just enough polin to give it it’s distinctive scent. Early June possesses the smell of air conditioning circulating in a bright sun-lit room, where me and my little sister are goofing around. The scent of early June has a special feeling to it, and without that special feeling it’d barely be a scent at all. Early June is a scent of happiness. It’s a scent that makes you feel cozy and free. It’s a scent that trails the way to new beginnings. It’s the fragrance I smell mixed with the warm air from outside that first hits me when I walk out of school after finishing my last exam. Walking to the car the air travels in and out of my lungs, making my heart start to beat for the first time that year out of excitement rather than nervousness. I will always remember the smell the cusp of Summer and Spring brings. And every year when June comes around I will take a deep breath, and remind myself that Summer’s just around the corner.

Honestly I don’t have just one favorite scent. We have so much to smell that sometimes I’m not even sure what I’m smelling. Of course there are some scents I would prefer to smell more than others but if you think about it, how can we choose just one. Now, a scent that is close to my favorite is definitely the smell in your house when your christmas tree is just put up, the candles are lit, and you are laying on the couch with your dog with the lights off. That may be a scenario but that's honestly the best smell and feeling I could ever think of. Christmas tree scent reminds me of no homework, no stress, and lastly, no school. So, therefore it comes pretty close to perfect. Even though I say that I still believe that there is no ‘perfect scent’ or ‘favorite scent’ because we have way too many to choose from. You have probably only smelled 45% at max of all the smells in the world. Every place you go smells different, every country, every house, every tree. The world is too diverse to even ask that question.

My favorite smell happens to be banana laffy taffy. I know it sounds odd but the smell if so intoxicating, it smells good, makes you feel relaxed and a smell that gets worse the older you get. Two years ago, it was something that smelt amazing, now, it smells good but not like what it used to. The smell just makes me feel nostalgic.

Like the picture shown, my favorite scent is lavender. Not only do I love the beautiful scent that puts me into a sleepy trance, it reminds me of the amazing road trips I’ve taken across Washington with my Aunt. On the first road trip we took, we started in Seattle at home and started driving in the early morning. The big step was getting on a ferry to cross the sound. After an hour on the ferry we saw a bunch of people pulling off the road and we decided to stop with them. It was a beautiful field of acres upon acres of lavender. We took pictures and picked a few bushels of lavender. It was funny, the only way I could describe the smell was bright purple. We left after an hour or two but the smell never left us. The lavender stuck to our clothes, hair, and shoes for the two days we were travelling from Seattle to the Pacific Coast and back. I have to say it was one of the most fun trips I’ve ever taken and my favorite scent since then was lavender.