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Songs, Smells and Dates

Do you ever have moments where a song comes over the radio and it immediately takes you back to a specific place, moment or memory?  This happens to me often. 

There are so many songs that have had special meaning to me and the instant I hear them, I am transported to a specific time... I feel the exact emotions I felt when the song became special... I can even sometimes end up in tears because the feelings are so strong, its like I'm living the moment again.  Other songs have a different impact on me, make me feel excited and energetic... Just the song from a specific time in the past where life was vividly fun and joyful.

I sometimes marvel at this.  How can something so simple create such deep, moving emotions?  I was pondering this today and realized its not just songs.

There are Dates that hold special meaning to me and no matter how many years pass, when I live the date again, or see the date on a milk carton, it wrenches my heart.  When my Dad passed away... that date became one of these dates... And its not just on the date, but if I see the date on something, I can almost cry right there..  The date a tragedy happens.. each year after, on that date I feel the same sorrow I felt that day, I remember details about those days that are impressive sometimes.

But the one the is often hard to tack down to a why for me sometimes is smells.  Sometimes I will pass a field and smell some weed or plant and it makes me feel melancholy and I have no idea why.  Other times there are smells that I KNOW why they grab my attention or touch me, like the smell of wheat reminds me of my Dad or cattle, yes stinky but also wonderful because my Dad loved working with cows.  The smell of baby powder immediately takes me back to when my kiddos were babies.  There are many smells like this that are easy to understand but sometimes its not understood why I've reacted to it in an emotional way.

The thing that has me impressed is how these things, Songs, smells and dates can affect us in such massive ways... reminding us of specific moments, feelings, smells, details of what we were doing, where we were when it happened etc... And yet we can forget so many other things in life.

Is this from our minds?  Written on our hearts?  Subconscious?
I don't have the answer, I just find it fascinating and am thankful for it too....

Even though sometimes these memories are difficult, they are worth remembering, and in a way, sometimes it helps keep loved ones close to our hearts.  I suppose a lot of the impactful moments have in a way, shaped us into who we are today and for this we can be thankful.

What smells, songs, and dates do this for you?

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