Stop and Smell the Roses

I had to chuckle as I wrote the title of this blog because in my last post, I literally talked about clichés and how we (and by we, I mean me) sometimes refuse them or ignore them depending on what we might be going through. Well y’all, I’ve had to embrace a few clichés recently, and again retrospect is a mother.  When you sit down and think and reflect, sometimes all you can do is say, “it could have been worse”. 

Have you ever searched for something you couldn’t find, but you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it was supposed to be there.  I feel like that often, particularly when it comes to my keys.  For as long as I’ve had keys, I’ve always been looking for them.  I mean, who loses keys daily? Me, that’s who🤦🏽‍♀️.  But this isn’t about me losing my keys, it’s about me losing something that we all take for granted, the little gifts our bodies give us to let us know we’re living and that we’re OK.  Back in July, I realized I was missing something very near and dear to me, something that I’ve now come to realize means a whole lot more to me than I ever knew…MY SENSE OF SMELL. 

In July, I tested positive for COVID. I had body aches, a ridiculously consistent headache for days and nagging coughs here and there, but what really caught my attention and let me know something was wrong wrong, was that I could not smell a thing.  It was like the rapture for Cranial Nerves came down and snatched my Olfactory nerve right out of my head. I was literally walking around trying to smell every pungent odor that I should have been able to smell…bleach, alcohol, cinnamon, perfumes, soap, ONIONS….it was gone.  I couldn’t smell a thing.

In the spirit of full transparency, I had to use the restroom one day and I did what we all do from time to time, and then out of habit, I sprayed. I immediately laughed and then started boo hoo crying because I was freaking out. I couldn’t smell what I had done, nor what I was spraying to cushion what may have been a blow.  I laugh even louder at that now, but in the moment it was scary to be missing something that’s so normal. We don’t even think about the fact that smell draws us to things that are pleasurable and alerts us to danger. Not being able to smell literally messed with my head for days until I got the confirmation call and the person on the other end said, “you’re positive, you need to isolate from this point”.  I had already figured out and braced myself for that fact that it was going to be positive, but that voice on the other end startled me for a moment. I had to take that in, but it was okay.  I am okay. 

I won’t complain about any of it because I am here to smile about it and write about it. Some people struggled through and some weren’t able to get through. My smell came back after about 9 or 10 days…it just reappeared.  I was in the shower, and I remember telling my mama, “I think I smelled my soap, it’s faint but I think I smell it.” Then I was cooking and I was like, I think I smell the onions. Now, I’m smelling everything and some things that aren’t even there (literally)….but that’s just lingering side affect I will just have to deal with until I don’t.

As my smell resurfaced scent by scent, I realized how much we take the little things for granted.  I wasn’t just reminded to stop and smell the roses every now and again, I was reminded to appreciate smelling the bleach, and the farts, and the dog poop, and the body wash, and the soap….it was a reminder to appreciate the good and the bad things because the fact that we are experiencing even the smallest moments of life, is a reminder that we are still living.

I’m not only reminded to stop and smell the roses, I have also been reminded to give people their roses while their still here. I have some troopers in my corner.  A few times during isolation, I got these funny, mission impossible type phone calls. The voices on the other end were very incognito in behavior and then they would say,  “check your porch, I left you something, I love you but I’m backing out of the drive way”😂. 

COVID kidnapped my smell, but it also gave me perspective. Appreciate the little things, they are bigger deal than you might imagine.  Sometimes we all need a reminder to not just go through life, but to experience it. Just stop every once in a while, and really smell the roses…or the bleach, or the onions:)

SONG CONNECTION: Be sure to listen!!! LITTLE THINGS: INDIA ARIE