Joey Villarama…Who?

On our way to "The Loop" of ELJ Communications Center or 9501 to grab a snack, my friends and I got smothered with an overpowering and peculiar scent which each of us could not quite make out. Trina said it was the smell of hairspray, since we were passing through the various dressing rooms along that long main building corridor towards ELJ. Jabs, if I remember right, said it was the odor coming from the rest rooms. I thought it was the fragrance coming from a box of freshly-glazed donuts.
It’s really amazing how people respond differently to different scents and odors. Even more extraordinary is how memories are triggered by a specific smell.

Just the other day, I was washing my hands with a bar of the beige variant of Safeguard. Instantly, I remembered my mom, more specifically when she used to give me baths as a child.  A mental picture of how she lathered the wet wash cloth and how she made sure that the water in the pail was warm enough before dousing me with it sent really fond memories (and chills down my spine!)

Another odor which brings me back to the past is the smell of bleach and Pinesol(R).  I’m reminded of my sojourn in a foreign land, more specifically my work as a "janitor" in a small hospital. (Oh, I have to tell you about that.  To augment my "pocket money," I applied as a "dietary aide" in a very small hospital in that state/country in 2001. My main task was to serve up different beverages according to the dietary requirements of each patient. That task was easy because there were only 30 patients and only 3 drinks to choose from: coffee, juice and a sugar-free drink.  But after dinner operations at the kitchen, I had to clean the entire kitchen floor and wash 2 trash bins. That’s when I had to use the 2 cleaning liquids I mentioned above. The scent of dry-cleaned clothing, rosemary leaves, lemons and liquid Tide(R) also trigger memories of my life in that country.

Savoring food is one of the best ways to bring back good memories. Forgive me for being a bit sentimental but one of the ways I keep my mom alive in my memory is to remember the food she loved and taught us to eat. Among these are olive oil, olives, capers, brewed coffee (although I don’t drink coffee!), etc, etc, etc.  Right now, I’m marinating beef which I will use to cook one of my family’s favorite stews, a recipe which my maternal grandfather taught my mom. As we feast on it tomorrow (yup, it takes a day to cook!), I hope it will bring back memories of the things we loved to do and talk about as a family.

Have a great weekend!