Sensory Recognition

Do you ever just have one of those moments when you're walking down the street listening to your tunes, not really paying attention to anything except the "zone" you are in, and then out of nowhere there is a familiar smell and it just takes you back to all of these memories that flood your mind?

What did it for me yesterday occurred as I got out of the West 4Th station and started heading towards Bleeker. Not all smells were pleasant, and I try to block out as many as humanly possible as a general rule, but there was one that snuck through my defenses: cherry-apple tobacco, the kind that my dad used to smoke in his pipe while we were on family vacation camping somewhere.

Ah, but did it take me back!

I miss those days, back when I was 7 and didn't have a care in the world. When politics meant Rainbow Bright versus Strawberry Shortcake; when the REAL arguments and decisions in life could be made by rock, paper, scissor; and the only hero in your life was dad, the guy that gave you Shera rides to bed and tucked you in like a mummy and then proceeded to fake a trip to make it seem like he was going to fall on you and smush you while you fell into a fit of giggles, which, of course, would then cause mom to come and investigate what all of the ruckus was because by this time every excuse was already made as to why, oh why, you needed just 5 more minutes before bed time...20 minutes ago!

When does the innocence of youth leave our lives, I wonder?!