When Thoughts Flee

One thing that seriously vexes me is the way I can be out and about, doing life wherever, and I can think of a gazillion things to write about. The wording floats through my mind in nearly poetic form. I even think about sitting down to write about it, and it's just gone. Makes me crazy.

I was in Bath and Body Works once with my mother (I believe it was actually the last time we shopped together at the mall before she died) and came across an aromatherapy scent called "Breathe". Now, I normally don't like aromatherapy scents at all (no, seriously--they just plain stink!), but this one...well, this one reminded me of my childhood. I can't exactly explain why or how, but it did. Something like our school cafeteria (back when school lunches were actually pretty good) and the hallways in fourth grade heading to Mrs. Mills' classroom, mixed with a hundred or more other tiny scents of memory that awakened the nostalgia senses with a force that hit me rather unexpectedly. I wavered for a moment, but Mama (as was common with her) bought a small bottle of it for me.

I can't remember how many times I have used it for a memory nudge in blogging or life-story writing, and ironically I've even found it works with a measure of regularity for other people. It must just be one of those scents that hints of individual memories, making it a lovely tool for writers everywhere. Anyway, this isn't an ad for Bath and Body Works so much as a musing about how helpful that particular lotion was for piquing nostalgia and helping to unlock whatever it is that slams shut the moment I sit down to write. Maybe this would be a good time to dig out that lotion.