Think Kit Prompt 5: Scents have the power to take us all kinds of places. What smell takes you somewhere else? Where'd you go?

The smell that takes me back to my childhood is the smell that people naturally possess when they come inside from being outdoors doing any kind of physical activity. I can't exactly explain the smell, but it's likely that you've smelled it. It seems to be a mix of sun, dust, and fresh air on a person's skin, hair, and clothes. I have no better words to describe it. I'll say to my kids, "You smell that you've been outside playing."

The first time I remember this smell was on my grandpa, John Thompson. Every time I get a strong whiff of 'the outdoors smell' it reconnects me with my grandpa for a few seconds. When I was in first grade, I lived with my grandparents. My grandpa had a abundant garden in the back yard that ran along the length of the modest yard touching the white picket fence that separated him and his favorite neighbors. He would spend what seemed like hours out back tending to the garden: watering, weeding, transferring plants, picking fruit, spraying, and talking to the neighbors. When he would come in through the back door to wash his hands in the kitchen sink, I would get a nose full of this smell on him. It's a perfect mix of human and earth!

A photo of John W. Thompson my grandpa and dedicated gardener (1920-2000)