The smell of fabric softener

Ever have this experience:

You're out for a walk, you're enjoying the evening air, listening to the birds chirping their last calls of the day, watching the children out playing happily in the street, feeling so good in the present moment.  Then, out of nowhere, a smell comes and hijacks you and takes you back to another place in time.  All of a sudden you're not on your walk but in some special place in your past.  You feel different, everything even looks different.  You're bombarded with happy memories, see people you love, it all becomes so clear you feel like you're actually there.  That one smell had the power to take you back in time.

This happens to me a lot, usually when I'm taking a walk in my neighbourhood after dinner.  And the smell that really holds this power for me is the smell of fabric softener.  What's funny is that it's not one particular brand like Downy or Snuggle, it's any fabric softener.  Now, growing up I don't remember my family using fabric softener; maybe we did, maybe we didn't, but it doesn't stick in my mind either way.  No, fabric softener was used in another house I grew up in, another place I felt loved and comforted every time I entered.  The smell of fabric softener, for me, will always be linked to this house and bring back so many happy memories of times spent in the company of the people who lived in it. 

To this day, the house still smells of fabric softener, and going there still makes me happy ♥♥

She

She inspires me.

She impresses me.

She makes me laugh, every time we speak.

She is a happy, upbeat, positive person.

She is cute; everyone who meets her says so.

She is kind, caring, and sensitive.

She is always there for me, no matter what.

She is my biggest fan.

She has made me who I am today.

She is my MOM and I love her more with every passing day.

.

Giving thanks

This weekend we celebrate Thanksgiving here in Canada.  It seems to me that each year the idea of giving thanks becomes more and more important to me.  I give thanks for all the blessings in my life on a daily basis, but somehow that doesn't seem like quite enough.  It always seems to fall far short of what I need to give thanks for.  I am incredibly blessed, incredibly fortunate, and I don't know how to put into words how grateful I am for everything that life keeps sending my way.

Do I always feel this way?  No, some days I can't find anything to be thankful for; but that doesn't mean that I don't have a ton of things to be grateful for, even on my worst days.  On good days, however, I am astounded by just how much I have to be grateful for.  

So this weekend will be about holding close all my blessings and trying to find a way to give thanks, a way that will live up to all the wonderful people, situations, and experiences life has put in my path.