Smells Like...

If there's one aspect of Carter's sensory issues, I've truly understood from the beginning, it's the dilemma of the super-senser.  You see, I'm a super-smeller.  Super!  Not really.  It's a curse.  Smelling anything and everything within a half mile radius is truly a curse.  Oh, but the smell of bread baking or a sizzling steak on the grill!  Or the sweet smell of baby lotion and Dreft!!  Yeah, that's a bonus I guess.  The problem is most of life's smells are really not that appealing.  People, for example.  Not always smelling appealing.  Summer's not so much fun really unless you've got a chlorinated pool close by.  Sports.  Kids.  Sweaty kids.  They really smell like wet dogs (no offense to the dog lovers).  Enough said.  Don't even get me started on shoes.  Breath.  Yeah.  You get it.  Putting me on a crowded city bus or worse the el train on a summer day is like torture.  Truly, the best thing about winter (the God forsaken season) is that most smells are covered up with coats, car exhaust or just the smell of "freeze."  See, if you don't know the smell of "freeze," you probably cannot relate, but I appreciate your effort to understand.  And just think, someone like me is really helpful when you leave your coffee pot plugged in too long or your curling iron is scorching something in the bathroom.  Gotta look for the positives, right?  So, yes, I am proud to say that I acknowledge my super-smeller and try to celebrate it as much as one can.

So, when Carter walked out of day care today proclaiming that the day smelled like "2008," I understood.  Somewhat.  I mean, I have never named smells in such a colorful way, but I do get that life has certain smells that define it.  When he later said that it smells like June 20, 2008, I'm more intrigued.   Wishing I'd kept a daily journal because there's a part of me that wonders what we did that day and if there wasn't someone or something smelling a certain way.  Or was it just a Carter-ism?  Either way, I'm grateful.  He keeps me looking around a little longer, a little deeper, a little further.  Appreciating the moment.  "It smells like 2008."  What a great thought for the day.