Thanks for sharing. I have the same flash back of my dad with old spice as well. That's all that stubborn man would wear. Loved that about him....knew exactly what he wanted every Christmas.
Wonderful story! Like the others I want to thank you for your service in law enforcement. I handle criminal Appeals on behalf of the State of South Carolina and frequently hear about the way y'all are treated out in the field and see the way they try to discredit you or portray you as monsters during trials. God Bless you for what you do and a prayer for your safety in this crazy world! As for scents, I recently purchased a tobacco soap that immediately took me back about 30-35 years to when my father would retire to the living room and spend about 30 minutes smoking a pipe after dinner. Thankfully I still have him with me but I bet it has been nearly 30 years since he had picked up a pipe.
Amazing story. I am not a police officer. I am a prosecutor with the Attorney General's Office. My division is a law enforcement division of the Attorney General's Office. I've worked in law enforcement prior to going to law school. Everything you described about people, holding things close to your vest, the dark humor, the sarcasm...that's also a part of who we are and it's ok. I have long believed in the power of scents. There are some scents that I can smell today and I immediately go back to high school, or some other event in my life. There are so many things about the human mind we don't understand, not even in 2015. Thanks for sharing your powerful story.
That is a moving story to be sure. Thank you very much for posting that. It is indeed remarkable how scent can trigger memories from times long past. A close friend's father passed away many years ago, well before his time. She recently said that one of her fondest memories growing up was watching her dad shave, and that she could still smell his aftershave. When I asked her what aftershave he used, she said Old Spice. For me, the scent that triggers memories is tarweed of all things. It's pungent smell instantly takes me back four decades to when I was walking to grammar school in the morning mist. It used to grow in the fields near the school, and smelling it reminds me of a time, a place, and a world long gone.
I read something very interesting a few years back about our sense of smell....I dont remember all the details but basically your sense of smell has a direct route to the memory portion of your brain....NO OTHER sense has this....I personally find these things amazing and how amazling designed we are.....VERY cool stories by all and thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing such a personal and wonderful story. It's amazing how a scent can bring you back to another time. I think how scent is connected to the brain and how vivid memories can be brought back; fascinating. A bottle over cologne last me years and years. Sometimes if I happen to open one and take a sniff, I'm taken back to a moment in a bar when I was talking to some girl I liked or a party I was at, back when I was single of course.
Back when I first started elementary school, the ladies in the cafeteria made all the bread from scratch. They even made their own hot dog and hamburger buns. Neither my mother or grandmother made yeast bread. As a Georgia boy I was raised on biscuits and cornbread, but yeast bread was something you bought at the grocery store. That first day of school, walking into that cafeteria and smelling the aroma of freshly baked bread, I had a Pavlovian reflex without any preconditioning whatsoever. To this day when I smell bread baking, I'm right back to that first day of school. Oh, and Skin Bracer reminds me of my grandfather.
This morning, I shaved in honor of your dad and the story you shared. I used Stirling Spice shaving soap, then followed up with some Mama Bear's Aged Spice Winter Aftershave Balm. @TheFiveO
Great heart-felt story, Steve! Thank you for posting this. Having experienced this phenomenon myself numerous times, I don't doubt for a moment that our sense of smell can rekindle memories and take us back to a different time. Most are very pleasant memories.... Every time I smell cherry tobacco, I'm a 6-year old again, sitting on my grandfather's lap. I catch a whiff of Mennen Skin Bracer, I'm 11 and splashing some on (burn!) after watching my dad shave. The smell of spent ammo (nitro) transports me to our ranch many years ago and my dad is teaching me to shoot a 22 rifle. Whenever I make red beans & rice, the aroma takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen in the early 1960s as my siblings and I anxiously and noisily gather around Gma's table... It is simply amazing AND an incredible blessing of what our olfactory sense can stir in our memories!
Fall leaves just starting to decompose and Testors model enamel take me back to 1974 every single time.
A close friend from our college days passed away not too long into his "post-graduate" days. I was shocked and saddened to learn of his death. As part of his personal hygiene routine in college, he shaved with Barbasol, and used Lifebouy deodorant soap. In that way, he used old-school fragrances, and was obviously happy to do so. I think that is part of what led me to be an "old-school" type, and I am happy doing so.
