31 Days: Grandma's Wisdom~ Smells like Roses

The sense of smell is pretty amazing.

Just one whiff of the scent of "rose" and I am transported back to my Grandmother's house where I stand in her bathroom snooping around in her make-up cabinet!  I would open up the jar of rose scented hand cream, pink and silky, and I'd smell deeply.  Sometimes I fear I sniffed so long I wound up getting some on my nose!  I must admit though, I liked it when that happened because it made the smell last longer.  I was always nervous about being "caught", even though I know she didn't mind.
I digress.  Grandma loves the smell of roses.  She even planted a number of varieties in their spacious back yard.  Avon and other companies have tried to capture the smell of an actual rose, but there's a difference in the scent that they bottle. Have you noticed?  Whenever I smell it, it's that bottled smell that always makes me think of her.

She loves nick knacks, and would collect items like perfume bottles.  I specifically remember the ones that she had on a shelf above the toilet.  I think a lot of them came from Avon as she was fond of their products.  I actually had a lot of fun looking through the images that came up when I typed in "Avon Perfume, Owl" into the search bar!  My Grandma had so many of those.  She had a three tiered shelf up above the toilet in their bathroom (the only bathroom in their three bedroom home).  It was FULL of these perfume bottles.  Every shape and size. Some still had perfume in them and I can remember as a child standing on the toilet lid being so very careful to put them back exactly how they were when I found them... (the dust spots let me know where they belonged!)  I loved looking at and smelling her collection!

I wonder if she knew how much I loved them, or how fond my memories when I smell the scent of rose.  I know this was unintentional on her part, but I'm sure glad that I have these memories from visiting her house.  It make me reflective and excited to plan for what I hope my grandchildren remember me by!