This may sound strange, but there are two smells in this world that are guaranteed to uplift my spirits: Apple Cinnamon and Eucalyptus. There's a story behind that. When I was kid, my family and I would travel to Oklahoma to visit my mom's relatives. My favorite place to visit was my Aunt Francie's. While I couldn't tell you in enough detail for you to envision exactly what my young eyes saw, I can tell you that her house was always a place of comfort for me. What I can recall are dimly lit rooms filled with antiques and bric a brac that always smelled of eucalyptus or cinnamon.
Since my time there, I have always dreamed of her house and having one just like it of my very own. There are even times where I have gauged the overall niceness of my house by whether or not the smell was the same as the one I recall from her home. As such, I have always ensured that I have those smells in my house.
Each time I walk through a little patch of scent in the air, I think of how blessed I am to have my home and how much I love it as well as my family and my independence. It may seem a silly thing, as my Aunt Francie's house was no place of grand opulence, but it's always been my ideation of what a home should be. A warm, inviting place filled with warm, inviting scents. Those are the kinds of places that are most filled with love and fond memories, and that is exactly the kind of place that I've always envisioned my own little patch of this Earth would be.
Perhaps even as a child I knew I'd grow up to need a safe and cozy place to hide away from the world. It's entirely possible that my anxiety was present all along without my parents realizing what it was. Regardless, this little ranch house was exactly what I needed then, and is still sort of what I need today.
I haven't been to my Aunt Francie's since I was roughly 13 years old, which is a shame. Being full of anxiety, plus having three kids and a husband who works non-stop makes it hard to travel. I suppose that just because I can't be there physically, some part of me will always be there in spirit. I'd love to get back there someday soon though.
Every time I walk by my Dollar General Apple Cinnamon Plug-In Air Fresheners, I feel successful, as funny a statement as that may be. I feel like I've achieved something wonderful, even if it's something as small as the perfect and inviting cloud of scent between my theater room and my bathroom.
It's great to have memories that can inspire confidence in oneself and/or one's surroundings. I suppose a lot of people don't have those kinds of memories. I love that something as simple as a whiff of an air freshener can lift my spirits so, and for that I am incredibly grateful.
~A Sentimental Lolli
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