This weekend I went to a Women's Conference and was given a tote bag. One of the other ladies I was with commented on the smell of the tote bag. Excitedly I smelled it, hoping it would smell exactly like one of my childhood smells (it didn't, unfortunately).
The smell I was looking for is a plastic or vinyl smell, the smell of my Barbie playsets. Most specifically I remember having a Barbie airplane that smelled this very distinct way. I loved that smell, and when I smell it today it takes me back.
Another distinct smell I very much remember from childhood is the Play-doh smell. Real "Play-doh", not homemade or another brand.
Art projects were always better when we used the smelly markers, in a multitude of "flavors". I think the grape smell (purple marker) was my favorites.
I remember the honeysuckle smell in the summer, and picking honeysuckle blossoms to stick in our mouths where we could suck on them like tiny straws, hoping to eke some honey tasting nectar out.
Tomato plants and leaves were another smell of my childhood, and I always thought smelled so good regardless of the fact that I didn't like tomatoes. Tomato plants smelled like gardening to me, like dirt and the sun all mixed up together.
The sounds of my childhood would have to be musical sounds. I loved listening to Nanny's eight track tapes of Glen Campbell, the Rhinestone Cowboy, and Jim Nabors and Elvis singing gospel songs. I remember going to her Baptist church and singing songs there, including the children's songs at Vacation Bible school.
I remember plunking out songs on the old upright piano we had for awhile, songs like "Bicycle Built for Two", and "The Sidewalks of New York".
One of my friends gave me a 45 record for my birthday with Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" song (which, in reading the lyrics as an adult make me think that song was a little over my childish head!) I also remember other 45s I had, most specifically "Le Freak" by Chic.
It was amazing to me when I first listened to a Sony Walkman. The first song I ever heard on a Walkman was "Spirits in the Material World" by the Police. When Stewart Copeland bangs the rim at the beginning of the chorus, I felt like it almost broke my eardrum. When I took of the headphones I remember asking my friend Philip (the Walkman's owner) "So, really, no one else could hear what I was listening to?" I couldn't believe that even though what I heard felt like it filled the air around me with music, no one else but me heard it.
I participated in Marching Band in high school, adding to the musical sounds of my childhood. To this day a marching band gets me going!
I loved camp songs, which I not only sung while I was a Brownie, but also when I went to my 4-H summer camp. 4-H camp also embedded Supertramp's sound in my brain, as they would play their songs over the loudspeaker at camp during the day.
As I sit here and think, song after song after song comes rolling through my brain. Music has definitely played a huge part in the memories of my life. Heading down to the Women's conference this weekend we were discussing how one of the ladies I was with is a movie quoter. She said people say things and a movie quote to go along with that pops into her brain. I told her that I was a song singer, and songs will pop into my brain.
I had to laugh when we got downtown and started walking towards the conference hall. As we were about to cross in front of some people trying to get into a parking garage someone said "Just put your arm out there and stop the traffic." Immediately I burst into song: "STOP...in the name of love!" Oh yes, music is definitely the sound of my childhood.
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