Sweet Memories…
My mother’s mother went by “Gran”. I didn’t have as much time with her as I would have liked…she passed away in spring of 1994 after a battle with cancer. That is not part of this story. I want to tell you about a happy memory of her.
We grew up a couple states away from my mom’s folks and time with them was much anticipated and highly coveted. No matter what time of day or night we arrived at their front door, Gran would be ready for us. She would have homemade macaroni and cheese made for me, a special sprite/jell-o concoction in the fridge that my brother adored and some of those southern style green beans that have spent two days on the stove that were a favorite of my mom and dad. It was a home away from home. She let us make blanket forts underneath the pool table in their playroom. She organized and helped us follow through with birthday parties for our stuffed animals (complete with balloons, cake and streamers). She let us run amok in their multi-acre back yard. She took us to the park and the post office and the drug store and the pool. She took me to the fabric store and let me pick a pattern and the fabric and I’d have a new outfit waiting for me the next morning. She took my brother to visit her fireman friends at all the different fire stations around town. She took me to her jazzercize class and let me borrow one of her leotards and set of leg warmers…
And she took me to visit her friend, Frances Stone. An interior decorator with a beautiful showroom, which to me seemed like a life-sized doll house. Every time I visited the rooms were different and I was allowed to wander freely (carefully) through each scene. It was during one of our decorative adventures that Gran was going to buy me a bottle of room spray that I had smelled throughout the building and admired. Frances was sweet enough to gift the bottle of fragrance to my grandmother to give to me. I had many of these bottles given to me in the years I visited my Gran. I treasured them, used them, loved them and loved the feelings the smell evoked. I was almost 14 when she died and somehow, even after using this room spray for years, I lost track of that kind it was…what the name of the scent or company was…and I never had another bottle of it after I used the last of it up.
In late 2002/early 2003 when I was newly employed at a precious little boutique and I was un-boxing a spring shipment…I remember stopping cold as I lifted the cardboard flaps and the smell I associated with my Gran wafted over me. I nearly cried as I pawed through the packaging to get my hands on the source…and I rediscovered what has become (again) one of my favorite smells of home. It is the Aromatique “Smell of Spring” potpourri. I prefer the potpourri now and buy a couple bags every spring that I divvy up into several crystal bowls throughout the house. It is soft and sweet and makes me happy every single time I walk by. I just bought my two bags today from the same boutique, though I no longer work there. I also love Aromatique’s fall fragrance, “Cinnamon Cider” and use that from October-February (ish).
