And it smelled like it did when I was a child

And suddenly it smelled like it did when I was a child, yes, I remember it well.  Some of our senses seem to have memory, something I noticed years ago.  My first apartment on my own, walking in and looking around liking what I saw, windows all round the place, lots of light, a garden apartment with grass outside, nice big kitchen, window over the sink, a little niche in the hallway where a phone once resided, a building built awhile ago with all the character of it's time, arches, tile, comfort.  And then opened a cupboard door, the delicate smell there took me back to grandma's house, her kitchen pantry next to the back door.  And all the senses then kicked in, the sound of the seat pushing back, the shopping bags stuffed in the corner, the sound of the screen door slapping against the door frame and the squeak when it opened, the three cement steps out the back door, the smell of breakfast, the shape of my grandmother working at the stove.  The sound of footsteps on linoleum and walking across to the basement door, the land of exploration in darkness below.  And I could almost hear her voice calling us to come to her.  The smells of the kitchen, the sense of it, as if I turned around in my mind and was not looking out but looking within at what was the past.

Senses are a powerful thing.  And what started this thoughtful trip into the past was a taste of a cup of coffee - one sip and I remembered the very first cup of coffee I had.  When I was 16 mom said I was old enough and she made me a cup - two sugars with cream.  This cup had that taste, that remembered flavor forgotten for years until the taste recalled from the vast distance of my history, that one little memory as a thought that surely wouldn't have been ever remembered but for that little taste.

The color aqua, it's my favorite color now, has been for awhile.  And it became that after one day the convergence of sound, color and smell, reminded me of summers at the pool.  The one wall on the side of the pool was a bright aqua, the sun shone brightly and I stood by the wall watching everyone in the pool, the diffused sunlight, bright but not intense, casting a golden light on everything there. The sounds of water splashing and voices one on top of the other - giggling, laughing, running footsteps.  As if I stood there again, could feel and hear all those sounds.  And the smell of water, and chlorine mixed with the smells of sunshine and summer.

Memories.  

Remember.