Things I remember

One of my friends from precollegiate camp is a psych major and she did this project on memories and your senses. The hypothesis was that memories are stronger, even at a young age, if it is associated with one of the five senses. Interesting. I have several memories that I associate with my senses, especially smell and taste.

1. Flowering herbs body spray from Bath and Body Works: Every time I smell this I think of rushing around trying to get ready for school after early morning basketball practice. I loved playing basketball but my least favorite thing was early morning practice. I had to wake up super early, I couldn't eat breakfast because the time change always messed up my stomach, I didn't have the forethought to pack a breakfast, so I was famished by the time lunch came around. I hated to be late to class and our coach would only leave us 15 minutes to get ready, so I would forgo a shower and layer on the flowering herbs spray. I would arrive to class sweaty with streaked makeup, and the aroma of that spray trailing behind me. Every time I smell that fragrance at BBW, I think of my freshman and sophomore years in high school and those days I just didn't have enough time to get ready.
2. Ice cream sandwiches: When I was little we lived in the middle of the country and we played a lot. I was always in trees, chasing cows, throwing cats around, basically wreaking havoc. It was the perfect place for a hyper child like me; however it was in the Texas Hill Country, and during the summer, it gets HOT there. I would play all morning long and during the heat of day, there were two things my mom would let me do. One was splash around in a little pool under the shade of a big pecan tree. That was fun because cows would literally come up to that pool while I was in it and drink from it. I thought it was the coolest thing. My mom, not so much. We soon put up a fence to keep that from happening. Anyway, when I wasn't in the pool during this hot time of day, I was in front of the TV, watching Jem and the Holograms. (Please let me know if you have heard of these characters, they were my favorite growing up.) The reason I remember all this is because my mom would occasionally let me have an ice cream sandwich as I watched Jem. I would sit on the floor of the living room, not three feet from the TV, and eat my ice cream sandwich while singing along to Jem. Those were great times.
3. Watermelon: My grandma would buy big watermelons when my cousins and I were little and we would sit under her carport and eat watermelon until our stomachs were full. We would have these discussions about what would really happen if you swallowed a watermelon seed. Every time I eat watermelon now, I remember how it was early evening at my grandma's, there would always be cousins there, we would argue about whether or not to eat the rind, about whether or not to put salt on it (I have never and will never do that). I will never forget those times.

What memories do you associate with senses?