“Describe what you feel right now using your sense of smell. If you feel frustrated, write about what your frustration smells like. Use vivid words. Don’t skimp on adjectives.”
Wow, what a great creative writing assignment for Mother’s Day! What I mean is today has been something of an emotional rollercoaster for me in that it started with having to get up earlier than I wanted to because I was staying at my grandmother’s house and she’s a morning person. (Actually, truth be told, it was my cousin turning on the shower which was next to the room was sleeping in that woke me up.) So I started the day feeling grumpy, groggy, and generally ill-content, though I’m supposed to describe those feelings in smell. So let’s see, the coffee was brewing when I woke up, so there’s that earthy, bitter, and spicy smell that everyone knows of that’s coffee brewing. God, I love that smell.
After breakfast we needed to go to a hardware store because my dad wanted to get a cable splicer for my grandmother’s second TV. Knowing my family, I wasn’t allowed out of the house until I had a bath. So then there’s the smells of the bathroom: hand soap that’s floral yet synthetic at the same time, the minty freshness of toothpaste, and then the mixture of softness and freshness that can only be found in a freshly laundered bath towel. Because my grandmother’s such a clean person, when you turn on the piping hot water in the bathroom, the stem permeates the room with the smell of vapor and cleaning products that tell you it’s really okay to sit down and soak in the tub if you need to.
Leaving my grandmother’s house this afternoon my cousin and I stopped at Bojangles to get some fresh-made biscuits. You know that smell of fried anything? Yeah, that’s pretty much the only smell you need to imagine to get the idea of what a Bojangles smells like. And there’s the ride back home, which doesn’t smell like much of anything because the highway is pretty devoid of any kind of personality whatsoever. Coming home is always nice because you feel like you belong, though my room is pretty messy at the moment so there’s definitely a little bit of funk in the air when entering my bedroom. Granted it’s my funk, so I’m perfectly at home in it because I did make the bed I sleep in.
I’m recounting all of these things not only to make the ‘assignment’ a little easier to access, but also because it helps to demonstrate what I’m feeling at the moment. I had a crazy 24-hour journey to visit my extended family, but more importantly it was an opportunity to honor moms. I didn’t really get to spend a lot of time with my mom on this trip, but we had a great experience helping prepare dinner last night together (something she’s been doing longer than I’ve known her), but at least now I’m able to pick up some of the smaller nuances in the kitchen when I’m with her. Last time I was home I was reminded that she hums in the kitchen when making food—something I’ve always heard but never really connected with my mom’s spirit—and last night I was able to see her in full glory commanding a kitchen and organizing a house full of hungry people. Although providing for one’s family is one of those great, intangible measures that moms give us, being able to bask in that glory and be part of it is really one of the best experiences in my life. Happy Mother’s Day to all moms!
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