Sniff, Sniff...

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Smells to my mind, are the sense most capable of evoking memories. You know what I mean. You walk into a room, and a smell triggers a flood of emotions connected with your grandmother.

Strangely, people lose the ability to smell the odors they live with all the time. The person with seven cats barely notices the littler box, because their brain gets tired of the constant nagging input from the olfactory nerves, and actually stops "listening to" (or smelling) those messages. This neurological phenomenon can be dangerous to people who work around hazardous chemicals, because they actually lose the ability to smell the toxins.

I've not been sleeping well, lately. I'm under a lot of pressure. And both Robb and the cat snore like crazy. The cat wraps herself around my head like a furry hat, and then snores and snores.

Also, Robb wears a hair pomade that totally freaks me out. It smells like the hospital, and each time I get a whiff of that scent, it brings me back to the terror and anxiety and unknowingness of those first months after Robb broke his back. I hate this smell, but I don't think Robb understands the intensity of my dislike. It's not that the smell is necessarily "bad." It is that the emotions and associations that the smell evokes are unbelievably upsetting.

But what's a girl to do, when she's laying in bed, irrationally stressed out by the smell of hair-styling products? While I'm quite likely to roll Robb around the bed in an attempt to curtail snoring, I'm not going to make him get up in the middle of the night and demand that he wash his hair.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sounds like a quest for a great new hair product is in order, one that you both enjoy sniffing. You could explore all those funky little shops, sniff their products, read tons of labels, and make an adventure out of it. Select several possible products, you wash Robb's hair, then try one. A few days later you again wash his hair and try another --- until you both find the perfect one.
Grinch
cath said…
Isn't it funny--sometimes when I walk into my house I get a whiff of what others must smell when they come over--and then it's gone.
My FIL wears a cologne that smells like EZ-OFF oven cleaner to me--it really freaks me out. Even after he leaves, things in the house (like the telephone or the tv remote) will smell like him for a while.
Anonymous said…
That's so true about scents evoking memories. I used to give a talk about herbs at nursing homes, and when I passed around the fresh herbs for them to smell, they would make comments such as "Spearmint- my mother used to grow this." "Rosemary- I used to cook with this." -Rose
Anonymous said…
Mebbe Robb can switch from FOP to Dapper Dan?
Anonymous said…
Suggest Rob read your blog
Anonymous said…
Has anyone gotten a photo of your cat hat? It needs to be.

MoWizLiz
Anonymous said…
i remember when i was pregnant with my first-i couldn't stand the smell of my husband, period. It wasn't his gel or cologne or shampoo or deodorant. It was HIM. We tried to cover up his scent will all those things but it just made me even more pukey. I felt so terrible about it, but still, he slept in the spare room for three months. I couldn't help it but it made me feel very black widow-ish. 'thanks for the embryo, honey, now get the hell away from me!'

Maybe you can switch out Robs hair stuff in the middle of the night. Or maybe your pregnant? :)
Anonymous said…
Hey there-

I see according to your international map of visitors, that you got a hit from China. Perhaps we should interject news about Teinnemen square (spelling is all wrong, I know!) along with Bird stories, and biking. By the way, have you ever thought of having a blog from people you know reporting on migrating bird activity? It seems to me that is a perfect way to keep track of international bird movements.

Going to a party in Columbia on Sunday- sort of a anniversary party/ obama party combined. I'm hoping to scoe some obama merchandise, as well as feel the love!

It got to 0 degrees here last night. Hm, its the IQ of some of the guys I used to date in College!

Annalisa

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