Is there a smell from your childhood...

[Hunter's Moon]

that sends you back in time when you catch a whiff?

 

I was walking through the school hallways and caught scent of something that reminded me of the pond my parents brought my sister and I to swim. It smelled like sunscreen and sand.

 

What scent brings on nostalgia for (from??) your childhood?

[Guest mummydeals]

Oh I LOVE smelling things from my childhood! I guess mine would be perfume on an elderly lady that reminded me of my Grandma who passed away when I was 11. Sweet memories!

[fairfarmhand]

The smell of my Grandmother's house. Don't know what made it. Sort of a combination of fabric softener (they line dried their clothes indoors in winter) particular brands of soap (they always bought the exact same products) and other stuff.

 

I can still get a whiff of it if I dig down deep in my cedare chest.

[Cinder]

The smell of the ocean; I grew up near the ocean. Now I live hundreds of miles away. But every few years we get to vacation at the beach. And I get to smell the ocean!

[alisoncooks]

Corn drying.  That scent when they've picked it and it's in the dryer (farm dryer) and the pinkish chaff is covering the whole yard, billowing like piles of snow in the corner of the garage.  Ahhh.

 

Of course, I only smell it when I go "home" during harvest -- we don't get that smell here in the "city," LOL.

[Kathryn]

Mildew. My grandparent's summer cottage.

[PuddleJumper1]

The smell of my Grandmother's house. Don't know what made it. Sort of a combination of fabric softener (they line dried their clothes indoors in winter) particular brands of soap (they always bought the exact same products) and other stuff.

 

I can still get a whiff of it if I dig down deep in my cedare chest.

 

This :) There was nothing like the smell of my grandparent's house. They lived in the same house my entire childhood into adulthood. Nan recently moved closer to us and passed some blouses onto my dd. The had the smell. I took one and stuck it far back in my closet so I could revisit whenever I wanted. :thumbup: Dh thought I was nuts.

[J-rap]

The salty air smell from the ocean.  (We live on the prairie now.)  And hot chocolate.  We lived near a Nestle plant and every morning walking to school, the air smelled like hot chocolate.

[wapiti]

Rain in the spring - reminds me of damp cloudy days and worms on the sidewalk.  I smelled it just the other day even though it wasn't raining or even humid (we live in a very different climate from where I grew up) - something to do with the spring-like temperatures we were having.

 

Eta, I wonder what smells my kids will remember

[Luckymama]

My grandmother had a brick patio tucked into the corner of her L-shaped house in San Diego, surrounded by flowering plants. One in particular had a very strong attractive scent.

 

Walking across campus while in grad school in Texas, I was stopped short by that scent! I almost cried. Turns out that Grandma had been growing jasmine around her patio.

 

There are some spots in Disney World with jasmine. I make a point to sit on a nearby bench whenever we're there and think about my grandmother :)

[Catherine]

The first boy I kissed always chewed Wrigley's mint gum and that smell still brings him to mind immediately.

[Ravin]

My dad's garage. A mix of automotive fluid smells, cleaners, cheap cigarettes, and welding solder.

[BarbecueMom]

Curve men's cologne smells like the laundry soap my childhood best friend's parents used. It reminds me of the night her neighbors were having some sort of cultural celebration in their home. We watched from the laundry room window, through their sliding glass door. Still no idea what kind of party it was, maybe Diwali, just lots of fun in a language I didn't recognize.

[fairfarmhand]

The first boy I kissed always chewed Wrigley's mint gum and that smell still brings him to mind immediately.

 

I went to a very small high school and many of the boys had "distinctive" colognes. If I pass a man in the store that wears a particular fragrance, I am reminded instantly of one of those guys.

[xixstar]

Not a smell, but often when I get a drink of water I can remember the exact taste and texture feel of the water from my grandmas house. I loved it sooooo much and would drink tons of it when I was there, always out of the plastic tupperware cups and maybe even with the sippy cup lid if no adults were around to tell me I was too old.  I think it was as much the texture of the water as it was the taste.

[AimeeM]

Yes.

Diesel grease, gojo, cheap dove soap, cigarette smoke, and Old Spice deodorant. It reminds me of my dad, when I was growing up; I used to sit in the bathroom with him while he bathed after work (diesel mechanic; he owned an on-property shop)... it was really the only time we had to just chat about our days. I know that, to many people, those smells aren't pleasant, but they are to me. Now he's working a less physically stressful job as an inspector for an auction company, and he doesn't smell like those things, lol. I haven't seen him in about 6 months. Miss him like crazy (She Who Must Not Be Named, not so much, but I do miss Daddy).

[trinchick]

I was just talking about this to a co-worker this morning! 

 

I loved the smell of my grandmother's jewelry box. She was the queen of costume jewelry, and as kids we loved to go through her jewelry box and try on all of the oversized brooches and clip earrings.

 

When you lifted the top or slid out the drawers, the smell would come wafting out. I have no idea what the scent is; I've never smelled anything else like it.

[Lady Marmalade]

Well, this isn't a good memory, but the smell of wet paint.  When I was 4 or 5 I was playing with a lighter and started our house on fire.  The smell of wet paint INSTANTLY transports me back to standing in the hallway outside my parents bedroom, trying to run past without looking in and seeing the burned up bits.

[lmrich]

Sawdust. My dad enjoyed woodworking when I was young.

[hillfarm]

Regarding elementary school, there were these thick, waxy crayons that were flattened on one side. When I smell that odor, I can feel the texture of the crayon and its weight in my hand, see the little desks, and smell the new paper and classroom odors.

 

Fresh cut hay from the area where I grew up. Oh, what a sweet, intoxicating scent! The hay in my current locations smells nice, but is a different grass and doesn't smell nearly as good. If I get a whiff of something like the old stuff, it reminds me of late nights, early mornings hauling horses to barrel races, then the whole experience floods back. The sun, the dust, the food vendors, the anxiety when "on deck"....

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Some old books are now the only place to get that certain paper-y smell that I once associated with the wooden drawers and and yellowing card stock in a good old card catalog.  Kinda sour, but not really.  There's an accompanying sound, too.

 

That does it for me more than crayons and Elmer's glue.

[shukriyya]

Feather pillows that are covered with ticking fabric. And my grandparents summer home--a combination of Lino, damp, country air, wood and vegetables stored in the pantry.

[LucyStoner]

Peanut butter cookies that are slightly overdone.  Fry bread.  My mother's way to use commodity flour and food bank peanut butter.  

 

That old smell that some school gyms have.  I will remember a lot when I get a sniff of that.  I dropped my son off at a school gym I used to attend for a weekend science event and immediately I was recalling those basketball practice wall sits.  

[MomtoCandJ]

Someone smoking a pipe, reminds me of my daddy :)

[trulycrabby]

I remember the smell of resin in ballet class. Resin is used on the bottom and toes of ballet/toe shoes for secure footing.

[msjones]

Barn.

 

Grandpa had a farm with cattle and horses.  I loved it in there with the horses.

 

Also, the tack room smell -- that leather/horse smell.  

 

Brings me back every time.  Sigh...

[gardenmom5]

the way clothes/sheets smelled after my grandmother or great-aunt (her sister) did wash.

[VeteranMom]

Kerosene, coppertone sunscreen, Youth Dew perfume, and pipe tobacco are all scents that take me back to childhood.  I know kerosene is a weird one, but we live in North Dakota and winters were cold.  We had a kerosene heater in our family room.  My mom wore Youth Dew a lot.  We went camping at a lake over the summers and wore a lot of coppertone sunscreen.  My Dad smoked a pipe- stopped a few years ago after losing a kidney to cancer. 

[Ripley]

Shaklee's Basic H.

 

My grandparents used that by the ton. LOL

[Lara in Colo]

The salty air smell from the ocean.  (We live on the prairie now.)  And hot chocolate.  We lived near a Nestle plant and every morning walking to school, the air smelled like hot chocolate.

 

I lived near the Jolly Rancher plant and I could smell the flavor they were making that day!

[dirty ethel rackham]

Coffee and peanut butter melting on a slice of toast.  I am not particularly fond of either smell, but when I get a whiff of that combination, I am transported back to weekend mornings with my dad when I was a kid.  That is what he had for breakfast on weekends if my mom wasn't making bacon and eggs.  

[Onceuponatime]

 

 

I can still get a whiff of it if I dig down deep in my cedare chest.

It could have been mothballs. That is what my mother's mother's house smelled like. My paternal grandmother's house smelled like Cashmere Bouquet soap.

 

Tons of smells are connected to my memories. Smells of cut grass, the ocean, cooking smells, limburger cheese in my German friend Bonnie's house, the smell of our canvas camping tent, the smell of Barbie doll hair, lol.

[Occasionally]

Emeraude perfume and Yardley's English Lavender.

 

 

[Cafdog]

There was a indoor roller skating rink I frequented as a kid - had a very distinctive smell.  My friends now take their kids there and swear that it still smells the same!  

 

(Note:  Washingtonians will know I'm talking about Skate King in Bellevue - it has smelled like feet, cotton candy, cigarettes, and the slightest whiff of marijuana since the early 70s!  :lol:   The weird thing is that it has been non-smoking for about 25 years.  Crazy.)

[JustEm]

Sawdust!!  When I was little my dad expanded our 4 bedroom house into a 9 bedroom house.  One summer all my older siblings, dad, and uncles spent everyday finishing it up.  The entire area always smelled like sawdust. 

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

See, now this is a neurology experiment going on right here, because reading sawdust and sunscreen (Coppertone, yes, but first we used Sea & Ski) brings up more hidden olfactory memories.   Sawdust from my dad's ancient, most likely dangerous ShopSmith table saw.  Piles and piles of sawdust, mostly pine.

[Tap]

The slight smell of burning oak when being cut by a saw.

 

My father made custom furniture and cabinets.  The smell of burnt oak always make me think of him in the workshop, the shrill sound of the rip saw, and the vibration from the wood going through.  I spent many, many hours watching him work as I grew up and it reminds me of happy times. 

 

 

The smell of Red Door perfume makes me think of my mom in her happier days.

 

Green apple room spray reminds me of my babysitters bathroom growing up.  She was in her 70s and always kept her bathroom window open a smidge but she had used so much green apple spray over the years, I think it permanently smelled like it anyways. 

 

The smell of a propane stove makes me think of the years we lived in a camp trailer traveling the countryside. Combine that with the hissing sound from a lantern and I can close my eyes and completely travel back in time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[UnsinkableKristen]

Fresh cut grass in the summer makes me think of my Dad.

 

Corn fields make me think of home (Indiana).

 

The smell of my grandmothers suit coat that I took after she passed last march.  I still bring it out to smell it and think of giving her a hug.

 

Jasmine makes me think of my kids playing in the back yard.

 

Ham salad makes me think of summers with my grandparents.

 

My husbands pillow smells weird and a little sour, but it mostly smells like him and when he's gone I sleep on it.

 

Stale Marlboro Reds and WD40 make me think of my Pappaw, even though he hasn't smoked in years :)

 

 

 

Love this thread. 

[kewb]

The smell of the ocean and the rustling of the grass on the dunes brings me right back to summers on the beach. 

There is a hand moisturizer that my kindergarten teacher used that I can still remember.  It was pretty stinky and she always put it on right before story time.  It was probably Jergen's or one of the other drug store brands from back in the day.

Sawdust brings me back to the butcher shop.  I loved going there with my mom and making sawdust piles with my feet while she ordered.

[SquirrellyMama]

Certain shampoos, hairspray and astringent remind me of high school and getting ready to go out with friends and on dates.

 

Canned green beans brings back memories of daycare and preschool lunches :)

 

Kelly

[TammyinTN]

My Aunt Heddie use to wear Youth Dew perfume by Estee Lauder....whenever I smell someone wearing that I immediately think of her.  Such wonderful memories. 

 

[Alessandra]

Newly waxed floors and furniture. Butcher's wax for the floors, not sure about the furniture, but something with beeswax in it, I think.

 

 

 

[littlebug42]

Tobacco.  Pipe tobacco.  My grandpa and my Dad were tobacco farmers.  There was nothing like a crisp, fall day on the farm with the smell of the tobacco drying in the barn.  Smelling that always takes me back to the feeling of just being surrounded by love at my Grandparent's house.  They both died long ago and sadly, no one really farms tobacco in that area anymore so it is something I won't be able to experience fully again.  

[Aura]

Pipe tobacco. My grandfather used to smoke a pipe all the time. Their house always smelled like pipe tobacco. I loved it. That smell always makes me think of him.

 

And the barn.My grandfather also had cows and horses, mostly, so I grew up loving the smell of the barn. Interestingly, my mom now has goats. I hate the smell of goats. It's just the cows and horses I like.

[lynn]

Lilac.  Mother had a beautiful lilac tree in front of our childhood house.  Love the scent, love the memory.    The other scent may be weird to some but the smell of cigarett smoke on cold days reminds me of holidays at my grandparents.    I made tater tots for my kids, school cafeteria smell is not a good scent.    

 

.

[Belacqua]

Lilac.  Mother had a beautiful lilac tree in front of our childhood house.  Love the scent, love the memory.   

 

.

 

That is so lovely. Whereas my memory of lilac comes from the tree just outside the door to the girls' locker room at my junior high. Girls would pick the blooms before going inside, so every spring brought a horrific mix of lilac, sweaty gym clothes, and an excess of Love's Baby Soft. Still haven't warmed to lilac.

 

On the other hand, I still adore the smell of an oil refinery. 

[Chris in VA]

So many already mentioned!

 

Sea and Ski 

 

Jergen's and Rose Milk lotions

 

Prell shampoo (I don't like the smell, but we used it for years) and Tame Conditioner (one of the first ones we used!)

 

British Sterling and Borkum Riff tobacco (dad's pipe, which he gave up when I was 13)

 

playdough (the real kind) and 64 box of Crayolas

 

I would like to smell Here's My Heart cologne by Avon again.  My mom used it; I'd get to choose which one of her roll-on perfumes she'd wear when going out with Dad, and often picked that one because it smelled wonderful and came in a lovely, rose-covered box.

 

 

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

My Strawberry Shortcake doll. <3

[OhanaBee]

Tide + Downy - it always reminds me of Mom's house.

 

Sage reminds me of the canyon behind the house that my brother and I would play in for hours upon hours.

 

Prell shampoo - reminds me of my Dad.

 

Love's Baby Soft - junior high school.  I swear we were all given this as our first perfume.

[busymama7]

About ten years ago my husband bought me a wheat grinder. The first time I used it I was overwhelmed by the familiarity of the smell. I knew my mom had used one and made all our bread when I was little and I remembered watching her. She didn't anymore after I was about 8 though and I was surprised at how I reacted to the smell of the milling wheat.