Remembering the Scents of Fall Keeps Me Cool

August 26, 2007

I started teaching again this week and took my son back-to-school shopping.

These are two signs in my family that fall is arriving. However, it's hard to think fall when summer days are broiling, and our windows are closed to keep air conditioning inside.

It wasn't until I decided to change the aroma of my air-conditioned home that the scent of fall came to me. I went to buy a candle, and I took the lid off one called apple pie. Cinnamon, apples and sugar wafted up my nose, and Thanksgiving was in the air. Ninety-eight degrees were eradicated in one sniff.

It didn't stop there. I thought about raking leaves and the dank, earthy smell of leaf piles. Next, carving pumpkins and scooping out their pungent orange innards floated across my nostrils.

Then the taste of spicy salsa and guacamole to go with chips at a Panthers football party made my mouth water, and I wondered where my long-sleeved Panthers shirt has been hiding since last fall.

I made my way to the check-out counter with my apple pie candle and was asked twice to pay. I was stuck on the odor of the vanilla I put in the icing recipe for sugar cookies at Christmas time.

Bill paid, candle dangling at my side in a plastic bag, I made my way out of the mall. I looked through the glass exit doors and was shocked to see no snow. At that thought, the fragrance of hot chocolate came out of nowhere, and I turned to see who was drinking it. I suddenly realized it was August, and no one was fool enough to drink anything hot.

When I opened the door to leave the mall, I remained strong. I tried to ignore the blistering air by thinking about cool apple cider. I pulled the candle from my bag and took off the lid for a long sniff of apple pie. I walked swiftly to my car and turned on the air conditioner, strengthened by the scent of fall and knowing that summer would be over soon.

Once the air in the car cooled to the point that I could breathe and think clearly, I considered how powerful smells are. Our memories are a strong factor in what makes us who we are. Smells are some of our most influential memory sources.

As a trace of burning leaves and November campfires came to my mind, I realized how much the fragrance of fall had imprinted on me. I knew it was close to time to put away my shorts and pull out my corduroys, and I couldn't wait to get home and light up my apple pie candle.

Thank goodness for the scent of fall.