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Remembering the Summers with Sunshine Grace

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I LOVE smells…for the most part! I love the smell of apples and cinnamon, a campfire, and vanilla. On the other hand I am completely opposed to stinky socks, mildew & day-old fish smells. They say our sense of smell can bring back the strongest memories. But, beautiful or nasty scents/smells don’t typically bring back memories for me. However, when I sprayed a little “Sunshine Grace” from Philosophy in the air, I was immediately transported to Spring Break as a kid.

For years, my mom and her friend, Shirley, packed their 9 kids in our “orange tank” and took the 2 day drive from Indianapolis to Sanibel Island, FL. We stayed at the Island Beach Club, which, at the time, were these little “houses” with wooden slat floors. (Now it’s a huge fancy resort.) They were awesome - perfect for a bunch of kids who were slathered in suntan lotion (probably Coppertone), tracking pails of sand in and out of the house. Since we were right on the beach, we’d spend all day there looking for shells, swimming in the ocean and soaking up the sunshine! (Side story: our first year in Florida, I met Melanie Rada. We were kind of naughty. We spent a little too much time looking for an alligator that lived in a nearby pond. I’m happy to report, we survived! Melanie & I became pen pals that Spring and were able to see each other a few more years before losing touch.) Ah…fun memories!!!

Because Sunshine Grace sent me back 42 years, it got me thinking about other smells/scents that are strongly connected to memories, and two others came rushing back:

Fahrenheit by Christian Dior. A boyfriend of mine used to wear it. I loved it so much I wanted my next boyfriend to wear it, and the boyfriend after that. (I know, totally dumb!!) It never did smell the same on anyone else, so I stopped the madness. But, whenever I get a whiff of Fahrenheit, I’m reminded of Doug. Ah...interesting memories!!!

Shalimar by Guerlain. This was my mom’s perfume. I always knew when it was date night for my parents when I smelled Shalimar. I used to love to watch her get ready as she put on her make-up, her jewelry and a spritz of perfume. Shalimar will forever remind me of my mom. Ah…warm memories!!!