Spring things are here! And aren’t they awesome? Cleansing rains, soothing breezes, sweet floral aromas, birds and bees, and warm sunny days – so…so sweet! For many of us, these things ignite our memories. It’s different for all of us, of course, but a common phenomenon. Just think a bit. What smell, taste, behavior, or situation sparks a positive memory for you? A particular one for me brings a sweet nostalgia and a need for me to ‘stop and smell the flowers’ (or honeysuckle I guess I should say).
When the smell of honeysuckle permeates the air it takes me back to a journey of exploration I took as a little kid through a neighbors beautiful garden of honeysuckle. The garden wasn’t very big, but at that age it seemed massive. It stretched along the length of the house, was about 6 to 7 feet wide and was framed with a hurricane fence yielding openings at both ends. It was my flowery jungle tunnel. Huge honeysuckle vines lined the entire length of the fence. They’d been there so long they had woven around and through the wired mesh. The aroma of honeysuckle was all you smelled and no other smell was as wonderful. I went there often, especially while the honeysuckle was in bloom. I’d go to smell the aroma up close and taste the nectar. It was a true adventure for me.
The other part of the memory includes those little blinking lights that floated through the air. The ones that every little kid ponders over looking for an answer for the reason why they blink. Lighting bugs or fireflies, whichever you prefer. But these two memories are connected. I almost can’t think of one without the other. And on June 7th just passed I was pleased to have again enjoyed this collective memory. The aroma of honeysuckle was so strong it infiltrated the interior of my home. I was drawn to the door to savor it and was flabbergasted to see my first sighting of this season’s lightning bugs resting on the screen. It was frozen there waiting for me to see it, I’ve determined and I enjoyed thinking back on that sweet time this little beetle brought me.
The adventures of those days have long since passed and the memories are fleeting. But each time they occur I am reminded to stop and remember the peace of those days; to ‘smell the flowers’. Our lives are filled with so many of the things we have to do that we have little time left for the things we want to do. I believe those sweet memories we enjoy are reminders for us to capture the peace we enjoyed in our youth. Though the days of our youthful innocence are far removed, the peace that came with them is not. It behooves us all to find the memories that bring us that peace and transport them to our present days. Relative to time, life is very short. The joy of it is the peace we find.
Spring will be over very shortly and the days of summer will inevitably take its place. It can be the perfect time to help create the memories your children or grandchildren can look back on. Maybe it will bring to them the peace they will need in years to come and enable them to stop and smell their own flowers.
